Hi folks,

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This general? area of O&M practice has been a long time interest of mine. Many years ago, I worked for a short time as a professional actor, and was in many college and community productions. ?Before going back to Graduate school when in my 50s, to get the training to take the COMS examination, I was from 1989 through the early 2000s, a Registered Drama Therapist through the North American Drama Therapy Association (NADTA). Once I got into COMS training, I did not have the time to continue to get the necessary CEUs to keep up my Registered Drama Therapist credential, so in commenting on subjects related to any aspect of drama and disability, I ethically must disclose that I am no longer a Registered Drama Therapist (RDT), but am commenting as a COMS. In my youth, however, I did my first Masters in Speech/Theatre with A Drama Therapy emphasis, largely because of my interests in insuring that people with disabilities, and particularly, people who are blind or visually impaired, have opportunities to participate in all aspects of professional and amateur theatre. As a legally blind person, this of course includes myself.?

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One of the first comments I want to make is that I am so pleased to read Anne Evrard ‘s post and to see that her student is wanting to be involved in multiple aspects of university theatre. Obviously, it is my feeling that we need to continue to push the envelope on behalf of blind and visually impaired thespians to be able to enjoy full inclusion in all aspects of the theatre arts.

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I will comment concerning the specific O&M questions she has asked, I then will share a few thoughts about other access and inclusion issues that the student may experience

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When we consider stage markings and orientation? cues for blind performers or stage staff, it is important the remember that no two stages will have exactly the same features. When most theatre goers think of a stage they think of a proscenium configuration or proscenium with an apron and/or orchestra pit. These stages are of course raised, and in the case of an orchestra pit, the drop off can be as far down as almost an entire story.? This front drop off is of course a major potential hazard, and is the feature which a blind person on stage has to keep in their orientation. The tactile warnings of the stage edge must thus be quite pronounced. One solution is to put a lip? all along the front of the stage, or ideally a graduated warning.. It is true, that on many stages, sighted actors use illuminated tape markings to find their positions on stage when entering a dark stage after a scene change. This is not always done, however, and certainly is not the only solution that is employed for sighted actors. If the theatre has a balcony, for example, much of the stage floor may be seen by the balcony audience. Thus quite often surface changes, or other detectable features are incorporated into the set design. Thus for making entrances on a darkened stage after a scene change, the sighted actors may indeed be using some of the same orientation cues that work for people who are blind. The important thing to keep in mind is that the edge of the stage is the greatest hazard to be identified. The lip or detectable markings for this drop-off must be very clear. They often can be made a part of the set design, but that must be something that the performer can notice in order to avoid the edge without great concentration. An actor is portraying a character on stage, They must be free to concentrate on their performance without consciously having to always keep track of the location of the edge of the stage.? One factor that can be helpful with some proscenium stages is the fact that there are often banks of footlights in use all along the front of the stage. One does not want to fall over these and then off of the front of the stage either, so the key there is to not only avoid the edge of the stage, but also the footlight banks. The heat of the footlights is often a good cue for these, but if the footlights are not used for all scenes, then whatever type of detectable warning surface changes are used may need to not be at the very edge of the stage, but rather just on the upstage side of the footlights.

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Many university stages may not be raised at all. Theatre in the round or arena staging may mean that the stage is at the lowest level, with audience being on graduated risers on two, three, or even all four sides of the stage. In these environments, the edge of the stage may not be a factor at all. Orientation needs to be on an object to object basis. Again, illuminated or reflective tape may still be used for some markings for sighted actors, but not to as much of an extent, because the stage floor is visible to much of the audience.?

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I found Dona’s comments about the actor she served with O&M training to be very interesting. This was obviously a person who was at one time sighted and then had to adapt his craft to having acquired blindness. At first, it was his desire, or at least he was given the task, of portraying the character he was playing as being sighted. This is of course an extra burden for an actor, and often one that a person who has had normal vision and then lost it can adjust to doing somewhat easily. It is much tougher for a person who is congenitally blind or visually impaired, not impossible, but can indeed be very difficult, because the person is being asked to learn some sequences of movement which may have never been a part of their navigation. They must make these very basic adjustments? while doing all of the work that any sighted actor must do in assuming a character. From Dona’s comments, I gather that the person she was working with, and with whose work I am not personally familiar, then became more comfortable with incorporating their blindness into characters being portrayed/ The part does not after all, have to be written specifically for a blind person, in order for the character to just happen to be blind.? This concept is one of the most difficult hurtles for blind, and other actors with obvious disabilities? to inject into the overall morass of theatre. We as a society have only recently gotten to a point where we can accept the race of a character to not have to have significance to the plot. People with blindness and other disabilities, after all, go into a virtually unlimited continuum of vocations, avocations, and lifestyles. Theatre is after all, the imitation of life, and thus I want to encourage any blind or visually impaired person looking at entering the theatre to promote this concept by auditioning for, and expecting serious consideration, for almost any role, whether that role is written for a blind person or not, and to realize that it should not be required to play the role as a sighted person just because it was not originally written for someone who is blind.?

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I have added the above paragraph to this post even though it comments on aspects of theatre not originally asked about.? I have done so because I believe that these are considerations that any person who is blind or significantly visually impaired should? consider. Feel free to share with students who might find the comments relevant.

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Michael Byington, Certified Orientation and Mobility Specialist

President of Kansas Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Inc.

Treasurer for Friends In Art of the American Council of the Blind

712 S. Kansas Avenue

Suite 414D-F

Topeka, Kansas 66603

(785) 221-7111

ByingtonCOMS@...

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