robbierants

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Something so funny about theatre is that half of all theatre kids are criminals. When you were 12 you watched a recording of Hamilton that someone took on their iPod touch? Fucking jail.

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Hello esteemed mutual. If you are reading this, then that means my propaganda is working. But you might still have questions, so I am here to answer them.

What is Deaf West Spring Awakening (DWSA)?

Deaf West is a theatre group from Los Angeles that tries to bring Deaf and hearing actors together. They do that by having the Deaf characters being played by d/Deaf/HoH actors who sign their lines and embody the characters, with hearing actors playing their Voice, and hearing characters being played by hearing actors who use simcom.

They currently have another musical going on, namely American Idiot, but that's not why we're here. We're here for Spring Awakening! That's a rock musical from the 2006 - 2007 season (when it won the Tony Award for best musical) based on a German play from 1891. The musical is about a group of German schoolchildren who are experiencing Sexual Thoughts, but the adults in the good Christian town refuse to communicate with them about it, which has negative consequences.

Adding the ASL/English language barrier adds to the miscommunication: not only do the hearing adults not want to tell the kids, they also don't have the signs. The original musical's script has not been altered at all, and it's amazing how the Deaf aspect fits.

How did YOU get into this show?

Glee. Wow. Big surprise. Lea Michele, Jenna Ushkowitz and Jonathan Groff from Glee were all in the original Broadway cast, so I was aware of the show. Then for DWSA, Ali Stroker from the Glee Project joined the cast. Also, by that time I was already into Deaf culture, mostly thanks to a Klaine fanfic and the show Switched at Birth, and Marlee Matlin and Daniel N. Durant from that show are in the cast. (Fun fact, Marlee also was in Glee for one episode.) (And Skylar Astin from the original Broadway cast was also in Glee for one episode.)

Oh yeah it's all coming together.

Are there different versions of DWSA?

Yes! The original production of DWSA was staged in a 99 seat theatre somewhere in Los Angeles. It was very succesfull and moved to The Wallis in Los Angeles. Then the version that was performed at The Wallis was enhanced and moved to Broadway with basically the full cast (rip to the adult actors tho).

Cool! Is there a trailer?

Here is one from the 99-seat run:

and here is one from the Broadway run:

It sounds neat, but are there content warnings?

There are flashing lights! Content warnings for depression, suicide, toxic relationships, (sexual) child abuse and in case people are not keen on it, nudity and sexual content. There once was a video of a 7 year old fan meeting Daniel N. Durant at stage door and it was very wholesome but also who the fuck took a 7 year old to this show?

A musical... with Deaf people?

Yeah. I kindly redirect you to this video (shot during The Wallis run):

or this docu (shot during the Broadway run):

What kind of music does it have?

It is often described as an indie rock musical and I, personally, have no clue what that means. I guess that sometimes there's an electric guitar. It is NOT fully sung-through. The original Broadway cast album (with Jonathan Groff, who plays Rogue in Doctor Who, yes I know my audience) is on Spotify and whatever. It's known for its genius lyrics like "Bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla/BLA BLA BLA", "It's the bitch of living/BITCH/JUST A BITCH" and "Yeah, you’re fucked all right and all for spite/You can kiss your sorry ass goodbye"!

No for real, it does have some banging songs.

Is there a proshot?

GOF D FUCK DAMNIT NO. There is a professional recording, but that is unavailable to the public. Folks, if we gonna watch it, we gotta be tootin and bootin. Andy Mientus, this is your cue to stop reading. There's a boot of the 99 seat theatre, of The Wallis, and 2 of the Broadway show (with different adult women casts). I, personally, am very fond of the first Broadway boot. There is also one with subtitles for that one, but honestly, I have never found it myself.

There are, luckily, some show clips. Here's one from the song Blue Wind:

And they did performances. Here's a late night performance of Touch Me. This is my favourite!

And of course their Tony Awards performance of Mama Who Bore Me and Bitch of Living:

Have I seen these people before?

Marlee Matlin is probably the most famous Deaf actor. Daniel N. Durant is also up and coming and is currently in American Idiot with Deaf West. Patrick Page played a lot of roles, but for my audience: he's the original Hades in Hadestown on Broadway. Krysta Rodriguez was in the original Spring Awakening and in other Broadway shows. Andy Mientus was Marius in Les Mis on Broadway and was part of the original Spring Awakening tour. Daniel David Stewart was in The Band's Visit on Broadway. Alex Wyse was in Waitress on Broadway. Treshelle Edmont was also again on Broadway in Children of a Lesser God. Alex Boniello was in Dear Evan Hansen on Broadway. Kathryn Gallagher was in Jagged Little Pill on Broadway. Gosh, there is so much more and this means probably nothing to you all.

Do they speak German in this show set in Germany?

Sorry, but no.

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Basically Kleinsen, you guys. I FUCKING love the blocking with the ASL here, seriously, like how Hanschen guides Ernst through some of the song later...and I can’t stop thinking of Hanschen saying “Kinky~” like Jared

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will never ever respect or understand people who say hanschen and ernst are supposed to represent or be similar to melchior and wendla, especially because of this moment. if anything, they are totally different.

here, at the end of word of your body (reprise), when ernst signs “you’re gonna be my bruise” to hanschen, hanschen pushes his hand away during “bruise” and shakes his head, saying no. he’s not going to let that happen. he’s not going to hurt ernst, ernst isn’t going to hurt him, they aren’t going to hurt each other, and they are going to trust one another. this is a relationship that lies on love and trust and comfort, which is not like melchior and wendla at all.

during word of your body, instead, melchior and wendla were signing intertwined and together, representing that yes, this is their story. this is what’s going to happen. with hanschen and ernst, hanschen takes the initiative to say that wasn’t going to happen to them. love gay people!

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hey can you tell me more about the diagnostic process? I’m considering a diagnosis myself

here's what went down for me

All this is from my research paper I did for English!

I had a detailed assessment by a mental health professional, including a thorough history and physical exam, which was to rule out other conditions and assess for the presence of dissociative symptoms and the criteria outlined in the DSM-5. 

1. Initial Assessment and Referral: Consult a Mental Health Professional: If you suspect you have a dissociative disorder, the first step is to consult with a general practitioner (GP) or psychiatrist, who can then refer you to a mental health professional specializing in dissociative disorders.

Specialized Training: It's crucial to seek assessment from a mental health professional with specialized training and a good understanding of dissociative disorders.

2. Comprehensive Evaluation: Detailed History: The mental health professional will conduct a thorough interview to gather a detailed history of your symptoms, experiences, and any relevant past trauma or experiences.

Physical Exam: A physical exam and neurological exam may be conducted to rule out any medical conditions that could be causing similar symptoms, such as head injuries, certain brain diseases, or substance use.

Mental Health Exam: The mental health professional will also conduct a mental health exam to assess your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, as well as your symptoms of dissociation.

Multiple Sources of Information: The mental health professional may gather information from multiple sources, such as family members or friends, to get a more complete picture of your experiences.

Psychometric Testing: In some cases, psychometric tests, such as the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES) or the Multidimensional Inventory of Dissociation (MID), may be used to assess the severity of dissociation.

3. Ruling Out Other Conditions: Differential Diagnosis: The mental health professional will carefully rule out other mental health conditions, such as borderline personality disorder, that may present with similar symptoms.

Medical Conditions: They will also rule out any medical conditions that could be causing symptoms of dissociation, such as epilepsy or certain neurological disorders.

4. Diagnostic Criteria: DSM-5 Criteria: The diagnosis of DID or OSDD is based on the criteria outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-5).

DID Criteria: DID is characterized by the presence of two or more distinct identities or personality states that take control of the person's behavior, as well as gaps in memory for everyday events, important personal information, and traumatic experiences that are too extensive to be explained by ordinary forgetfulness.

OSDD Criteria: OSDD is a "catch-all" category for any presentation that is abnormal but does not meet the diagnostic criteria for any of the dissociative disorders.

5. Seeking Support and Treatment: Specialized Treatment: Once diagnosed, individuals with DID or OSDD may benefit from specialized treatment, such as trauma-focused therapy, psychotherapy, and/or medication, depending on their individual needs.

Support Groups: Connecting with support groups or organizations focused on dissociative disorders can also be helpful.

Hope this helps! Feel free to ask questions!

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What to Expect from the Black Butler: Emerald Witch Arc Arc: Emerald Witch Arc Volumes: 18-22 Chapters: 86-107

The recently released trailer paints a picture. Ciel and Sebastian are summoned by Queen Victoria to investigate a series of deaths in a secluded German village. Rumors swirl of a cursed forest and the figure known as the Emerald Witch. As the duo unearths the village’s dark secrets, they encounter Sieglinde Sullivan, a young girl revered as the Emerald Witch, alongside her Stoic butler Wolfram.

Director Kenjiro Okada has promised a fresh creative approach while maintaining the series’ signature tone: "I started by really paying attention to the manga series to properly interpret the world, the atmosphere, and how the story was depicted. Rediscovering the animation again through the original works was how I connected the dots into making the new season."

Fans won’t have to wait long, as the Emerald Witch Arc is set to premiere on April 5, 2025, airing on Tokyo MX, BS11, Gunma TV, Tochigi TV, and streaming on Crunchyroll internationally. But I know some of yall will watch it illegally (like me!)

Black Butler boasts a stellar cast, with fan-favorites Daisuke Ono and Maaya Sakamoto reprising their iconic roles as Sebastian Michaelis and Ciel Phantomhive!

Supporting characters, including Mey-Rin (Emiri Kato), Finnian (Yuuki Kaji), Baldroy (Hiroki Tochi), and Snake (Takuma Terashima), will also return.

The arc will also introduce Rie Kugiyama as Sieglinde Sullivan and Chikahiro Kobayashi as Wolfram.

The wait is nearly over!

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Sit down and let me tell you a story about Alois Trancy

So many people in the Kuroshitsuji fandom don’t like, or even hate Alois Trancy, and while it’s totally okay to dislike a character for whatever reason, it’s NOT okay to call him a “whore,” “slut,” or say how he “doesn’t deserve love.” Alois is one of the only characters in Black Butler that displays mental issues and disorders and actually deserves to be helped.

If you haven’t seen Black Butler II or read the manga, then SPOILERS beyond this point.

Alois was introduced and exposed to death at a very young age. Everyone in his village dying and eventually his younger brother and only friend Luka. After that he was forcefully brought to a man who beat and raped him on a daily basis.

He’s a very impulsive character and when I first started watching season 2 this rash and impulsive behavior was amusing. But once I analyzed and dug deeper into the reasoning’s behind his behaviors I am only saddened by his impulses.

A lot of people think that Alois is bipolar, but if you look into the symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) you’ll see he has almost every symptom.

Specific Symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder

Frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment (“Please..don’t leave me alone!!” “You can’t leave me all alone too please Claude! Don’t go”)

A pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships characterized by alternating between extremes of idealization and devaluation (Being overly jealous of Ciel and the constant abuse of Hannah)

Identity disturbance, such as a significant and persistent unstable self-image or sense of self

Impulsivity in at least two areas that are potentially self-damaging (e.g., spending, sex, substance abuse, reckless driving, binge eating) (Pretty much the whole show he’s impulsive)

Recurrent suicidal behavior, gestures, or threats, or self-mutilating behavior (When he climbs the clock tower threatening to jump off. Also when he scratches his chest until it bleeds saying ‘he doesn’t care about this body’)

Emotional instability due to significant reactivity of mood (e.g., intense episodic dysphoria, irritability, or anxiety usually lasting a few hours and only rarely more than a few days)

Chronic feelings of emptiness

Inappropriate, intense anger or difficulty controlling anger (e.g., frequent displays of temper, constant anger, recurrent physical fights)

Transient, stress-related paranoid thoughts or severe dissociative symptoms

Judging by the symptoms listed above, Alois clearly has BPD.

Now before I go on I want to make it clear that I by no means have any problems with what people prefer to ship. From what I’ve seen, characters can be shipped with anyone or anything and if you like a certain ship then by all means ship it. But here’s why I don’t support ClaudexAlois…

Being around Claude is possibly the worst thing for Alois and his condition. The constant teasing and rejection by Claude only intensifies these emotions in Alois and exacerbates his disorder. Claude is a demon. He’s only in it for Alois’s soul. He doesn’t love Alois. He made a deal in exchange for the boys soul and that’s the only reason he sticks around. And in the end he ends up murdering Alois to try and consume both Ciel and Alois’s soul whilst stealing Ciel from Sebastian. His avarice was his downfall in the end. But anyways, what I’m saying is that Claude is bad for Alois. He makes everything worse and since Claude is all Alois has he clings to him. Alois needs all the support he can get and he definitely won’t find it with Claude Faustus.

“These individuals are very sensitive to environmental circumstances. The perception of impending separation or rejection, or the loss of external structure, can lead to profound changes in self-image, affect, cognition, and behavior. They experience intense abandonment fears and inappropriate anger even when faced with a realistic time-limited separation or when there are unavoidable changes in plans (e.g., sudden despair in reaction to a clinician’s announcing the end of the hour; panic or fury when someone important to them is just a few minutes late or must cancel an appointment). They may believe that this “abandonment” implies they are “bad.” These abandonment fears are related to an intolerance of being alone and a need to have other people with them.  Relationships and the person’s emotion may often be characterized as being shallow.” - BPD Symptoms By Psych Central Staff

Alois Trancy will always be my favorite character in Kuroshitsuji and I will always be saddened by his death.

Goodnight.. Your Highness…

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Keep your messaging simple:

“Trump fired everyone in charge of airplane safety, and a week later planes started crashing into each other.”

That’s it. That’s the messaging. Don’t get bogged down disputing Trump’s false claims. Just blame him, in short and repeatable sentences.

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Disney’s treatment of Bobby Driscoll

I am absolutely seething about what Disney just did to Bobby Driscoll again 54 years after he was buried a John Doe (his corpse was found by two children playing an abandoned tenement building–his death date is actually unknown and the date given is the day he was instead found) in an unmarked mass grave in Hart Island’s potters field (not identified for a year until his mother pressured Roy O. Disney to make the NYPD care enough to match his fingerprints) where he still is surrounded by prisoners and unidentified vagrants (literally referred to as the “poor, unable and unwanted” on a sign)…

And 69 years after they fired him by letting him read it in a gossip column. Walt had his secretary call security on him and he was thrown out of the building crying at 16 years old (near his birthday–he was 14-15 during Peter Pan’s production). The film was #1 at the box office and in release for two weeks when he was fired. There’s also a rumor that Howard Hughes was also pressuring the firing, as he absolutely loathed child actors in general, and was in charge of RKO.

Bobby was the voice and rotoscoped character model for the titular Peter Pan. He was also in Song of the South, Melody Time, So Dear to My Heart and Treasure Island. His live-action movies literally saved the Disney company from total bankruptcy in the ‘40s. He was the very first actor ever signed to the company. He was only one of twelve child actors to ever receive a Juvenile Oscar (with such company as Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Shirley Temple, Margaret O'Brien and Hayley Mills) for his performances in 1948/9’s The Window and So Dear to My Heart. And for the record, Walt didn’t treat Adriana Caselotti (Snow White) much better, to the point where he denied her the ability to ever get work with her voice ever again. It’s just that Bobby is possibly the most horrific ending of a child actor ever in Disney’s history (there are many).

Disney just made Peter Pan the villain in the new Chip ‘n Dale abortion that gives the animated character Bobby’s actual backstory (this is not an evil Peter Pan take based on the book and not in any way comparable to Once Upon a Time!) of being an actor fired for hitting puberty and having acne. That’s not Peter’s backstory; that’s Bobby’s. And it’s too specific to be a coincidence. They drew a character, who was drawn unmistakably with the actor’s real features and acting performance, as a middle-aged, fat man, despite the fact that he died at 31 and Peter’s voice basically was his post-pubescent adult voice. They made him a hideous monster aged far past an age he ever reached.

The film also ends with the character incarcerated, which happens to be yet another thing from the man’s real life. By his own words, he was raped in prison. His spiral on drugs sent him to Chino, which didn’t happen until he was bullied mercilessly in public school after being pulled from the actor kids’ school (he also had stage parents who beat him and locked him in a closet to the point that Disney had earlier stepped in to send him to live with costar Luana Patten’s family as a child–there are also allegations he was molested while working at Disney) when Disney basically ended any chance of steady work. He was a straight-A student prior.

I’ve been telling this story every chance I’ve gotten for nearly two decades. Few today know who he is, because Disney does everything to keep the story hidden and him forgotten. Bobby is not a Disney Legend, despite fans lobbying for decades. The Peter Pan DVD/Blu-ray avoids mentioning him as much as they can. Another one of his films is de facto banned.

That Disney just pulled this with a disgusting, sick joke that laughs at his backstory and misfortune, then turns him into an irredeemable villain in a plot that essentially turns themselves into the victims of copyright theft (they’re responsible for lobbying to get copyright law extended indefinitely). So, in other words, Disney has framed themselves as the victim of a heartlessly-fired child actor who died tragically instead of the villain and framed themselves as the victim yet again.

If there’s any silver lining, it’s that Twitter and social media just learned about him for the first time because of outrage over Disney spitting on this dead man’s unmarked grave yet again. I knew this story decades ago (I had a Peter Pan obsession). Undoubtedly, nobody working on this stupid film was with the company 70 years ago and most were likely not even alive when he died, but somebody there had the bright idea to put the biographical data of a person Disney has spent decades trying to make everyone forget as a villain origin story.

“I have found that memories are not very useful. I was carried on a silver platter and then dumped into the garbage can.” -Bobby Driscoll

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abstension-only education has got my generation cooked i swear to god

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The notes are broken. This is what tumblr is all about apparently.

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PSA from the actual coiner of “neurodivergent”

Yo. Many of you need to take an entire stadium of seats. Like a football arena in Texas number.

I coined neurodivergent before tumblr was even a thing, like a decade or more ago, because people were using ‘neurodiverse’ and ‘neurodiversity’ to just mean autistic, & possibly LDs. But there’s more, like way more, ways a person can have a different yet fucking perfect dammit brain.

Neurodivergent refers to neurologically divergent from typical. That’s ALL.

I am multiply neurodivergent: I’m Autistic, epileptic, have PTSD, have  cluster headaches, have a chiari malformation.

Neurodivergent just means a brain that diverges.

Autistic people. ADHD people. People with learning disabilities. Epileptic people. People with mental illnesses. People with MS or Parkinsons or apraxia or cerebral palsy or dyspraxia or no specific diagnosis but wonky lateralization or something. 

That is all it means. It is not another damn tool of exclusion. It is specifically a tool of inclusion. If you don’t want to be associated with Those People, then YOU are the one who needs another word. Neurodivergent is for all of us.

Annoyedly yours,

Neurodivergent K of Radical Neurodivergence Speaking

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MANIFEST

MANIFEST

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Ive recently made four Spotify playlists for each of the Lark with songs that ive grown to associate them with! 🌾⭐🪕

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I miss my bf TvT

awwwww :(

sadness

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