At Gaynor Lougher’s Odyssey Theatre in Cardiff, Wales, adults with learning disabilities take to the stage alongside local amateur actors.

Together, they play theater games, they laugh and talk, and they put on shows.

Together.

Odyssey is about breaking down barriers, incorporating people of all abilities in the creation of a performance. The quality of the performance is not paramount; it’s about the experience.

It’s called “inclusive theater,” and it’s why Lougher and some like-minded colleagues made an odyssey of their own last week, from the U.K. to Westchester.

They were in Valhalla on Friday at the invitation of David O’Hara, the vice president for development at the Westchester Institute for Human Development, to address a group of local agencies and theater troupes that are already working with the disabled.

The idea was to put all of these groups – from JCC on the Hudson to the White Plains Performing Arts Center, from the Boys & Girls Club of Northern Westchester to the Music Conservatory of Westchester – into the same room to find out how to develop inclusive theater here.

O’Hara says his institute – started by the Westchester Medical Center and still on the Valhalla campus, though now independent – works to “enable people with disabilities to find their voice, find choices in life, become more self-directed and become stronger self-advocates.”

The institute offers programs and classes, employs people with disabilities and their families, and in general takes the long view of helping those with disabilities.

O’Hara and the institute sponsored Jordan Jankus’ fledgling Jess Because Inc., as it got on its feet this year. The Crompond-based not-for-profit provides classes and experiences for the learning-disabled, Jankus says, “using theater and videography and writing to get the message across.”

Actor-director Tim Godwin of the Thrift Theatre Company in Berkshire, England, also made the trip to Valhalla, although his invitation might have been a bit less formal: He’s O’Hara’s godson.

Godwin ran two days of workshops at the institute last weekend. Tomorrow night, he and some of his friends who’ve been seen in the West End will perform cabaret at a gala benefit for the institute.

Godwin told the group that he can envision a time when an inclusive Westchester acting company swaps places with one from the U.K. in an international exchange that completes the inclusive circle: “able-bodied, disabled, learning-disabilities, adults, families, all working in partnership together to make something happen.”

“We’re looking for ways to break barriers and involve some people in experiences that some might immediately discount them from because it looks a little bit too tricky,” Godwin said.

“Everyone who does this knows that it’s not a one-way street,” he added. “The reason we’re around this table is because of inclusive projects and how much we get out of it.”

O’Hara told those assembled that he has seen, in Godwin’s work and in the work of Jess Because, “the power that drama and the ability to experience the performing arts has for people with disabilities.”

“It enables them to create their own unique voice that’s powered by self-confidence and a sense of how well they can make themselves heard in this world.”

Lougher, whose Cardiff-based Hijinx Theatre sponsors Odyssey, says: “It’s not about ‘Oh that person can’t talk a lot’ or ‘That person can’t do this or that.’ It’s ‘That person is fantastic at improvising’ or ‘That person can really make us laugh.’ Everybody, I hope, is working to their strengths.”

With the concept of working together fresh in their minds, Frank Hassid, executive director of Tarrytown’s JCC on the Hudson, suggested that the groups network and coordinate their activities into an inclusive-theater gathering, along the lines of a film festival.

“If everyone did the work that they are doing – because already it sounds like there’s a wealth of programming that’s going on,” he said, “then somehow, through a collaboration, we [could] bring it together as a performance festival.

“Dedicate a week – maybe in National Disabilities Month -and use the opportunity to present performances for a fee that then could be turned into the following year’s production money for the next project.”

It doesn’t put a burden on anyone’s budget, because they’re already doing the work, Hassid said. It would just be a matter of coordinating the presentations.

“Everyone gets to promote their program but also contribute to the greater good,” he said.

As Hassid spoke, participants began to buzz. As the meeting broke up later, business cards were exchanged and promises were made that this would be the first of many meetings to make something happen.

Something for everyone.

Something inclusive.

Reach Peter D. Kramer at pkramer@lohud.com or 914-694-5118. Read his “In the Wings” blog at www.theater.lohudblogs.com.

Fall benefit

What: A benefit gala for the Westchester Institute for Human Development. With cabaret featuring Tim Godwin and performers from London’s West End singing show tunes.

Where: Cedarwood Hall, 20 Plaza West, Valhalla

When: 8 p.m. tomorrow.

Tickets: $125, a portion of which is tax-deductible.

Call: 914-493-8204.