Playwright Rich Orloff’s 2008 collection of short comedies, “Funny as a Crutch,” serves as the backbone for the UNI peer-led organization, Students Against a Violent Environment, production, “Funny As a Crutch And Other _______ Things.”
The most grounded scenes were those taken from Orloff, as they explored assumptions and stereotypes regarding disability and the treatment of people who are differently abled through parody and satire. They’re well designed to introduce challenging criticisms in a creative, entertaining and digestible way. 
 “Just One of Those Things” brilliantly humanizes prejudice against people who are differently abled. A business executive, played by Spencer Schmidt, senior communication major, interviews a job applicant, played by Sade Butler, freshman graphic design major. Butler’s character has an anthropomorphized disability referred to as a “thing,” played by Bianca Zerwas, junior communication major.  
Schmidt, and the audience, can’t help but be distracted by Zerwas as she prances around the stage, diverting attention away from Butler’s prepared speech. When he finally can’t take any more, Schmidt apologizes to Butler and insists that he simply cannot hire someone with such a distracting “thing.”
In “Position Available,” a human resource counselor, played by Jessica Buchanan, junior theatre major, from the Concerned Liberal Institute for Compassionate Handicapped Employment desperately searches for a fitting stereotype for Dale, played by Spencer Schmidt, a new job applicant who just-so-happens to also have a disability.
When Schmidt fails to fit into any of the common media stereotypes of people who are differently abled that Buchanan throws at him, she creates a new one to force onto him – extraordinarily ordinary.  
It’s incredible how much depth exists within these two scenes. Orloff doesn’t bash the audience over the head with what he wants to say. Instead, he very cleverly weaves it all together within unconventionally funny scenarios. 
The same brilliance lies within the writing of “All That He Can Be.” Unfortunately, it is presented within “Funny As A Crutch and Other _______ Things” as a short film with truly atrocious cinematography by Peter Seifert, graduate communication graduate student. The choices made in its presentation – from consistent lack of focus to constant pans to character’s crotches – are truly mind boggling. 
Sprinkled between Orloff’s works are twelve skits, poems and interactive scenarios adapted from poetry collections and literature that are thoughtfully performed, yet fail to maintain either tone or theme. 
Yes, everything presented centers on disability, and usually from the perspective of the person who is differently abled. However, disability is more of the topic of “Funny As a Crutch and Other _______ Things,” rather than its theme. The tone is so inconsistent, shifting between each scene from satirical to serious to silly to solemn throughout the entire production, nearly anything that mentions disability or ableism could be included without notice.
It’s disappointing that “Funny As a Crutch And Other _______ Things” is so fragmented. There’s a lot of good in it. Most of the skits and poems are beautiful individually, and the presentation itself is well polished. 
It’s difficult to discern what SAVE is trying to accomplish with “Funny As a Crutch And Other _______ Things,” but it does serve as an ambitious project that acknowledges that people who are differently abled exist and deserve to be heard.