The Boston Globe was dead on when it described jazz composer, vocalist, and actress Lisa Thorson as “grand, sassy . . . and seductive." She’s even been described in the media as a young Ella Fitzgerald who promises to make her mark on the world of jazz. Thorson is a vocalist of surprising range who has an amazing ability to deliver the notes she hits—listeners can feel the energy she directs at her audience as she performs in her wheelchair.
In 1979, as a 21-year-old senior at Boston Conservatory of Music pursuing musical theater studies, Thorson was performing back-to-back flips with a partner when she fell. She was paralyzed at the C5-6 level and spent the following eight months is rehab. It was at that time when Thorson became acutely aware of just how far the world is from being accessible to people with handicaps.
Many around her warned her that she’d never have the lung capacity to perform the way she once had, but her unabashed love for and commitment to musical theater remained unfettered. Thorson was determined to succeed in theater, radio, and artist residencies, and she accepted the performances she was offered.
Next Move Theatre gave Thorson her first acting roles as a wheelchair user. She spent much of 1980-1983 going up and down flights of stairs to do shows. It’s a sacrifice she says she wouldn’t make today as an established artist, but at the time it was worth it.
And while Thorson understood that her Broadway voice might never return, jazz was more flexible so she embraced it as an option. After several decades dedicated to the genre—both singing and teaching it—Thorson says it’s probably the most difficult discipline to adopt. Yet today, she’s able to sing in a way she didn't when she was 20 years old and fully able bodied.
“You already have the strength to fight back, to advocate, and to find a different path, because as people with disabilities we improvise every day,” Thorson said to an audience in a keynote speech that addressed resources and alternatives for a career in the arts. “That is creativity and tenacity rolled into one. And you have strength and conviction. Turning obstacles into assets is a way of life for people with disabilities and that is what you need to succeed as an artist.”
Her career spans 25 years and, with her quintet backing her up, Thorson has performed throughout the U.S. in concerts, at jazz festivals, and for community events. She has performed for organizations such as the Very Special Arts USA and the Adaptive Environments Center in Boston. She has served on the Mayor’s Commission on Handicapped Affairs for the City of Boston and received three successive scholarships to attend Jazz in July at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Through it all, she’s been honored with awards and accolades and is an associate professor at Berklee College of Music specializing in jazz styles and vocal technique.
Thorson was inducted into the Spinal Cord Injury Hall of Fame in 2006. She was also named the Humanitarian Entertainer of the Year in 1989 and received a Living Legacy Award from the Women’s International Foundation in 1992.
“Key Changes: A Portrait of Lisa Thorson,” weaves footage of her performances with interviews. It illustrates the subtle ways in which she challenges stereotypes, and advocates for people with disabilities through her work. The work also takes a look at the irony inherent in the fact that Thorson is in demand from clubs to concert halls to school auditoriums, but finds few of them are wheelchair accessible. It’s an issue Thorson, through her art and professional life, is working to change. When she approaches the issue with the same passion she puts into her singing, one can only believe she'll be as successful in positively impacting the issue of accessibility as she has been in her world of music.
Photo courtesy of www.LisaThorson.com.
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