Disabled Actors Take the Lead in CSUN Theatrical Production : Drama: University program has spent the last five years putting on plays with an ambitious mixture of disabled and able-bodied talent.

On stage, the cast was rehearsing the opening scene of “Specs,” a futuristic comedy thriller that will have its world premiere tonight at Cal State Northridge.

Cast members made it through the first scene until three extras near the front of the stage began to move toward the wings.

“No, no, no!” cried out director Gary Guidinger, who was sitting in the back of the theater. “You three in front,” Guidinger continued, “you stay there. You don’t move off stage until the lights go out.”

One of the extras, Loren DePhillips, looked puzzled. “The lights are still on?” he asked. “I thought we’d be in blackout by now.”

The stage, as all those present who could see knew, was still brightly lit. But DePhillips is blind, as are several of the cast members. Others have cerebral palsy; one is in a wheelchair, and several walk with difficulty.

“Specs,” by San Jose-based writer Jill Sardegna, is a production of CSUN’s Artistic Cultural and Entertainment program, which since 1985 has been putting on plays with a mixture of disabled and able-bodied performers.

It’s a challenging forum for a director. “In one scene we have three blind people on stage, alone, so there is no one for them to work off of,” said director Gary Guidinger, who is able-bodied. Guidinger has worked several times with disabled playwrights, but this is his first experience with disabled actors. “To make matters more interesting, in that scene the three blind actors are playing sighted people. We had to limit the movement and work out every move they make, exactly.”

At this first dress rehearsal, the movements were still to be fine-tuned. When one of the blind characters gestured to another, he hit his fellow actor lightly across the face. These kind of accidents are old hat at ACE productions and are more the source of humor than frustration. It is the group’s sixth production.

“We started with ‘The Odd Couple’ in 1985,” said Jim Hammitt, 47, the program coordinator of ACE, which operates out of CSUN’s Office of Disabled Students. Hammitt, who has cerebral palsy due to a birth injury, was the president of the Disabled Student Organization at the school when the ACE program started.

“The school had a special arts festival for disabled people,” he said. “In 1984 one of the workshops was in acting and people were so excited about it, they wanted to do more.”

One of the first rules ACE made was that standard plays would not be changed to reflect that they were being performed with disabled actors. “If an actor is in a wheelchair but there is nothing in the play about it, it’s not mentioned,” Hammitt said. “He just plays the part.”

Little bits of business are allowed. “I had some fun adapting the character to me when I played Felix in ‘The Odd Couple,’ ” said Steve Pailet, 35, who has gotten around by wheelchair since 1978 when he was struck by a car in a hit-and-run accident. Like several of the actors in “Specs,” Pailet has been in other ACE shows.

“When I wanted to show that Felix was mad at Oscar,” Pailet said, “I would hoist myself up on the wheelchair so I could look him in the eye. It got a good laugh.”

Neil Simon’s comedy about two roommates--one lackadaisical and one compulsively neat--was used, in subtle ways, to break down stereotypes. “Everyone thinks blind people live in neat, orderly rooms,” Hammitt said. “So we cast a blind actor as Oscar, the messy one. We wanted to blow that image.”

Since the first play, ACE has sponsored productions of “The Glass Menagerie,” “Butterflys Are Free,” “The Mousetrap” and “Barefoot in the Park.”

“Specs” was obtained for ACE by Harry Murphy, the head of CSUN’s Office of Disabled Students. Murphy had worked with the playwright on a museum project for disabled children. “He told me if I ever had a play with a disabled character in it, I should let him know,” said the writer, Jill Sardegna. “I liked the idea, so I turned a screenplay I was working on into a play and made the main character blind.” Nearly a year ago, ACE made arrangements to produce the play’s premiere.

Casting, which was also open to non-student actors, began six months ago. “We always want an integrated cast,” Hammitt said. “We want to show that able-bodied and disabled people could work together to create an artistic event.” But if two people--one disabled and one able-bodied--of equal talent and ability audition for a role, the part goes to the disabled person.

The title role of Specs, a 21st-Century policeman who is sent back to 1990 to solve a murder mystery, was won by Rick Boggs, 27, of Van Nuys. Boggs, who has been blind since age 4, got into acting by chance. That occurred in 1987, when the school where Boggs trained with his guide dog was used for the filming of an episode of the CBS-TV show “The Wizard.”

“They called me and said they needed extras,” Boggs said. “When I got there they still needed to cast a speaking role. They lined up 10 of us to try us out, and I got the part.”

He went on to appear in an educational film and a commercial for a bank in Oklahoma that offers customers financial statements in Braille. Boggs, who is a musician and makes his living by producing radio commercials and other audio tape products, would like to do more acting, but not in just the traditional blind roles.

“When I started acting classes at Valley College, I told the teacher I didn’t just want to do ‘Butterflies Are Free,’ ” he said. “I want to work on getting roles where if I’m blind it’s just incidental. I don’t see any reason I couldn’t play a psychologist on ‘General Hospital,’ for instance, if someone gave me the chance. It would not have to be a major thing that that character was blind.”

“Specs” will be presented at 8 tonight through Sunday at Cal State Northridge’s Little Theater in the Speech and Drama Building, 18111 Nordhoff St., Northridge. Tickets are $7. For information, call (818) 885-2869.