Miss-Delectable
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‘Annie’ caters to the blind, deaf
Some members of the “Annie” audience won’t be able to see the sun come up, but they will be able to hear a description of it.
Today’s performance at 8 p.m. in Veterans Park, as part of the Summer Arts Festival, won’t just be signed for the deaf, it will be audio-described for the blind as well.
Using a fund from the Springfield Foundation, the Springfield Arts Council has long interpreted select shows at the festival using American Sign Language.
“We don’t know who the deaf are in the community. We put that service out there in a proactive way and hope they show up,” said Chris Moore, executive director of the arts council.
But for the first time in at least a decade, a show will be audio-described for those who are visually impaired after a group requested the service.
“They are the eyes for the blind that are there,” Moore said.
The service, which works like a radio with an earpiece, begins almost as soon as the person takes their seat — beginning with an audio description of the environment around them and a reading of the program notes.
The free audio service can be made available for any show, but must be requested.
The last time the service was requested, the arts council was able to call on Ohio State University’s theater department, but OSU no longer does it, Moore said.
“I Googled ‘audio description services’ and found a group based in Columbus called Arts Access,” he said.
That group, in turn, put Moore in touch with a woman named Kathleen Roberts in Galloway who will be providing Friday’s play-by-play of the community musical.
As it turns out, she grew up in Springfield.
Some members of the “Annie” audience won’t be able to see the sun come up, but they will be able to hear a description of it.
Today’s performance at 8 p.m. in Veterans Park, as part of the Summer Arts Festival, won’t just be signed for the deaf, it will be audio-described for the blind as well.
Using a fund from the Springfield Foundation, the Springfield Arts Council has long interpreted select shows at the festival using American Sign Language.
“We don’t know who the deaf are in the community. We put that service out there in a proactive way and hope they show up,” said Chris Moore, executive director of the arts council.
But for the first time in at least a decade, a show will be audio-described for those who are visually impaired after a group requested the service.
“They are the eyes for the blind that are there,” Moore said.
The service, which works like a radio with an earpiece, begins almost as soon as the person takes their seat — beginning with an audio description of the environment around them and a reading of the program notes.
The free audio service can be made available for any show, but must be requested.
The last time the service was requested, the arts council was able to call on Ohio State University’s theater department, but OSU no longer does it, Moore said.
“I Googled ‘audio description services’ and found a group based in Columbus called Arts Access,” he said.
That group, in turn, put Moore in touch with a woman named Kathleen Roberts in Galloway who will be providing Friday’s play-by-play of the community musical.
As it turns out, she grew up in Springfield.