Yannick-Robin Eike Mirko, the first disabled actor to play Ricky Potts in a production of Ride the Cyclone, was discriminated against and treated horribly by his cast and crew at Mccarter Theater- being repeatedly referred to as "the chair" /his mobility aids by the choreographer, who will be part of the arena production, the costume department cutting off parts of their costumes that were accessible, etc- and fired after one medical emergency because, and I quote, "[their] physical disabilities [were] too inconsistent for the requirements of the theater," giving their able-bodied understudy the last three shows of the run.

Now the Mccarter and Areana theaters are collaborating on a new production of Ride the Cyclone with Yannick's able-bodied understudy as Ricky Potts.

I am asking on Yannick's behalf- boycott the Arena Theater's production of Ride the Cyclone. Don't let them think they can get away with this by giving them money for disability erasure.

We need to set a precedent. Demand that shows written with disabled characters must be performed on ADA-compliant stages, and above all make as much noise as possible about all of this to gain attention and show them that this is unacceptable. We will not let them get away with this. 

Of course, Yannick says all this better than I ever could. Below are links to statements they've made about this, and I would highly recommend reading/watching them to get more of an idea of the full extent of this.

https://adandelioninspring.tumblr.com/post/700453604505632768/the-mccarter-theatre-thought-deleting-the-youtube

https://adandelioninspring.tumblr.com/post/703466481538695168/hello-a-little-bit-ago2-3-weeks-i-got-a

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxeGcXP3NGs&t=6s

EDIT: The official script of Ride the Cyclone has now been changed so that the character of Ricky Potts is no longer physically disabled. He is now only mute due to witnessing a traumatic event, rather than having a degenerative disorder that caused him to lose both his ability to speak and walk. This means that any and all future productions of RTC will portray Ricky as an entirely able-bodied character.

We need to push back against this. Now more than ever, we need to show the writers that we're not going to stand for their ableism. It is, frankly, repulsive, and we cannot let it continue. Disability representation is already few and far between- especially in musicals- and removing Ricky's disability, along with changing his entire character and arc in the show, erases representation that has been incredibly important to disabled people, even if it was always flawed.

I'm sorry that it ever got to this point. But if they changed it once, they can change it again. It's up to us to make them do so.