I saw her for the first time wheeling down the hall at the NoHo Arts Center theater, with her long blond hair flowing behind her, large piercing blue eyes and bright smile, a beautiful and vivacious girlish woman. I couldn’t help notice the wheelchair as she stopped only inches from my foot.

Teal Sherer

She put her hand out and said “Hi, I’m Teal Sherer and I want to work with you on the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play Proof that I’m doing here in January.”

In the 40 years I’ve been in show business, having been on Broadway stages and on many TV and movie sets, I’ve met a number of interesting and amazing actors but this young woman is one of the brightest and most inspiring. Her legs paralyzed in a car accident at 14, Teal’s teen years were a huge challenge. Here she is 14 years later and her life is an example of exactly how strong the human spirit can be.

While many “able” actors wait for the phone to ring, Teal is making calls. She surfs, she skis and she is always planning some wonderful adventure in some exotic place. While living in Atlanta she was cast in the HBO Emmy Award-winning Warm Springs, starring Kenneth Branagh. Soon after that she moved here.

In the short time she has lived in LA, she has been a busy actress. She was a regular on the short lived NBC series I’m With Stupid developed by The Farelly Brothers and directed by Linwood Boomer. She made an acclaimed national commercial for Liberty Mutual, directed by Laurence Dunmore, and appeared in American Voices at the Broad Theater in Santa Monica, with Dustin Hoffman and Annette Bening. Teal currently has a recurring role in the hit web series The Guild.

Teal is a member of the Screen Actors Guild’s Members with Disabilities Committee and in Proof she demonstrates what their vision is, that disabled actors can play recognizable and inspired characters on any stage, in film or on TV. They can play parts written for able-bodied actors and they want a chance to compete for them.

In Proof Teal plays the Tony Award-winning role Mary Louise Parker created. Parker was not in a wheelchair, however. Teal transcends that difference and makes you believe it’s written that way. The few critics who saw Proof done again were all touched by Teal’s performance. Deborah Klugman, from LA Weekly wrote “For this critic, Auburn’s script has always registered as contrived and lacking subtlety but this production blows away this bias by virtue of Sherer’s uniquely winning portrayal. That the character - like the performer — is wheelchair-bound adds a layer of vulnerability that brings the play to life for me as it hadn’t before. Make no mistake: Sherer’s accomplished performance stands on its own; it’s the material that’s been enriched.”

Not only did Teal star in this play, in this tour de force role, but produced the show as well. She raised the money and in association with The NoHo Arts Center Ensemble, of which she is a board member, and Blue Zone Productions, a company she is a founding member of which promotes actors with disabilities, she took the initiative to make this happen.

Teal has inspired me a great deal and in so many ways, but what has touched me the most is her work with UPC Wheels for Humanity (http://www.ucpwfh.org/), a non-profit organization that refurbishes old wheelchairs and distributes them to children and adults with disabilities in developing countries. She recently went to Mexico where they donated 100 wheelchairs. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN-By8-XYSE)

Working with Teal on Proof has been a wonderful experience. However, I remember that first time I saw Teal, wheeling down that hallway at the theater and I remember my first reaction to her as being sympathetic. Oh this poor beautiful girl, stuck in a wheelchair. Boy was I wrong because there is nothing about Teal that is either poor or stuck.

Liberty Mutual commercial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Vvr8E-OzK8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Vvr8E-OzK8

Proof also features Ryan Douglas and Colleen Fay, directed by Bob Morrisey. It plays one more weekend: Fri.-Sat., 8 pm; Sun., 3 pm; through Feb. 21. Tickets: $10-$20. NoHo Arts Center, 11136 Magnolia Blvd., North Hollywood; 323.960.7863 or plays411,net/Proof