More ways for the blind, deaf to take in theater
“I have always felt that theater should be available for everybody, not limited to a certain group,’’ says Drew Murphy, president of Broadway Across America-Boston, which is ramping up services designed to make theater more accessible for the blind and deaf communities.
The Colonial recently presented its first American Sign Language-interpreted performance, of “Avenue Q,’’ and Murphy is pursuing sponsorships and hopes to buy equipment, such as headsets, that are currently on loan. At a time when arts organizations are slashing budgets, Murphy expects to spend $40,000 this season on performance services for the blind and deaf.
Audio description is a program for the blind that translates visual images into spoken language. While it isn’t new - Wheelock Family Theatre pioneered the service in New England nearly 20 years ago and a number of area theaters, including the Huntington, New Repertory Theatre, Citi Wang Theatre, Boston Center for the Arts, and Central Square Theatre, offer some access programming for the blind and deaf - Broadway Across America is increasing access, as are other cultural organizations in the region.
A critical part of a describer’s job is to withhold judgment, to not tell the visually-impaired audience how to think about something - but rather choose language that allows them to form their own opinions.
In the theater, describers must also be able to finesse the timing of their interjections, responding to the shifting rhythms of dialogue and songs so as not to speak over the actors.