It is with a heavy heart that we mark the passing of the multitalented Queer artist and Disability advocate, JD Derbyshire. We are profoundly indebted to their impact on PTC. JD gifted us with their keen consultation and always gracious humour when co-founding the ACK Lab, a research project within PTC to investigate and inspire inclusive practice. This collaboration inspired us to continue incorporating access values as creative levers and inspiration; a gift of integration we hope to lead with in our work with a network of other Disability artists, playwrights, and consultants. We further benefitted from JD’s creative collaborative spark when they joined PTC as a 2010-13 Associate playwright, while they worked on their project: Stood. 

JD was also a meaningful mentor to emerging playwrights through our Block A program, inspiring them in their process and nurturing their talents with care. 

We are grateful to JD for impacting all of us in different ways, particularly when they’d make us laugh so hard our bellies would ache.

For more on this extraordinary human, please see JD’s obituary, which captures JD’s-isms (their words, not ours), life, and work perfectly.