Theatre critic Nicole Serratore was a wide-eyed 17-year-old who had just moved to New York City when she was introduced to what she calls a “beautiful play of flawed humans and epic journeys,” Tony Kushner’s Angels in America. “I didn’t know theatre or Broadway could be like that,” she says. It’s also the only time she’s ever gone to a stage door for an autograph: Kushner’s, after she saw Perestroika in previews. Memories of those formative days flooded back, she said, when Serratore spoke with actor Lee Pace, who will play Joe Pitt on Broadway this spring in the production’s much-anticipated National Theatre revival. Pace, too, was once a young teen inspired by the play.

As arts and lifestyle reporter for the Wisconsin State Journal, Amanda Finn flagged an interesting angle on the theatre beat: Encore Studio in Madison, Wisc., which devises original plays alongside disabled artists, then tours them around the state. “I’ve known their work since moving to Madison a few years, and reviewed a few of their shows for BroadwayWorld.” Intrigued by the company’s mission and methods, Finn spoke to Encore’s founder, KelsyAnne Schoenhaar, about how they strive to make space onstage for both disabled artists and their stories.