Four ASU students are working to create a new way for blind children to experience theater by throwing out the “visually heavy” model and incorporating other senses.
Masters in Fine Arts theater graduate student Aimee Reid started her effort in August to expand the art form she is passionate about to include more people.
The idea sparked from when Reid attended a theater performance and saw a husband leaning over to his wife, a blind woman, explaining what was happening on stage, she said.
“If someone has to tell you what’s going on, it’s not communicating effectively, and that’s what theater’s about — communicating,” Reid said.
A setback in the process of creating the program has been resistance from the blind community, she said.
“There is a major wariness of anyone ‘sighted,’” Reid said. “They tend to think I’m doing a charity or trying to help them.”
The group is trying to collaborate with ARTability, an organization that promotes accessible arts programming to individuals with disabilities.
Instead of viewing the project as a charity to blind children, Reid said she sees it as an improvement of theater.
“It’s not that they can’t enjoy theater because of their limitations — theater is limited,” Reid said. “We’re having to change our ideas about theater.”
The four ASU theater students are changing their views about traditional theater by catering to the audience members’ senses other than sight.
Stephanie Tate, a theater freshman, said to overcome the target audiences’ visual impairments, students are having to think outside the realm of traditional theater to incorporate new elements into the show.
One idea is to give the audience members props to hold during the performance.
Another way they plan to try to incorporate the “touch” sense is by creating vibrations in the ground during an earthquake scene and placing heat lamps in the audience to let the audience experience the heat of the show’s fire scene.
“It’s so much fun trying to figure out how to actively engage them,” Tate said.
The audience will be seated directly in the middle of the action to allow viewers to help move the show’s action along by giving them a sheet to shake above their heads to create water and ocean.
Lane Nelson, a theater junior, said she is excited to make theater better by expanding the audiences’ experience.
As an actor, the project has challenged him to create a performance that transcends the visual boundary, he said.
“How do you get it across when your audience can’t see you?” Nelson said. “How do you make it believable and not allow it to sound patronizing (by explaining the action)?”
While he hopes the program creates a better understanding of what it means to be visually impaired, Nelson said he is most looking forward to seeing the children engaged in the performance and enjoying themselves.
Tate said that while she recognizes the program has a long way to go, she is excited to see it gain more reputability.
“We’re just four students but we’re trying to do something big,” she said.
Reach the reporter at michelle.parks@asu.edu
