[bookshare-discuss] Re: drama from a blind perspective
- From: "Meka White" <mekawh@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2009 11:06:19 -0800
I have seen a few described shows like My Fair Lady and Holes.
I love describe dtheater. I'll have to check out some of the plays. Oooh, I
hope they have Rent!
Meka
----- Original Message -----
From: "Shelley L. Rhodes" <guidinggolden@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, January 25, 2009 10:33 AM
Subject: [bookshare-discuss] Re: drama from a blind perspective
I loved descriptions when I got the chance to get them. Smile. Boston had
all their plays described on one Sunday or other and I loved to go.
Never been to London, but bet that would be an amazing experience.
I absolutely loved Broadway and the Broadway Musicals, got to see Le mis,
and Rent, Chicago, and Beauty and the Beast on Broadway.
I also love descriptive art tours, Boston's Museum of Art is a fantastic
place with several art tours describing different pictures and images. Plus
you get to touch.
Shelley L. Rhodes, M.A., VRT
And Guinevere: Golden Lady Guide Dog
guidinggolden@xxxxxxxxx
Guide Dogs for the Blind
Alumni Association
www.guidedogs.com
The people who burned witches at the stake never for one moment thought of
their act as violence;
rather they thought of it as an act of divinely mandated righteousness.
The same can be said of most of the violence we humans have ever
committed. -Gil Bailie, author and lecturer (b. 1944)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ann Parsons" <akp@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, January 25, 2009 12:31 PM
Subject: [bookshare-discuss] Re: drama from a blind perspective
> Hi all,
>
> Those are all good plays. "Our Town" is a classic drama. "By the Skin Of
> Our Teeth" is a farce. It is always better to see plays enacted rather
> than to read them. The only thing better than that is to go to live
> theater with audio description! We're fortunate here in Rochester that
> our resident theater company at GEVA offers this service. On one Sunday
> during the run of each play, you can go and get a receiver and earphone
> and hear somebody in the lighting booth describing what is going on. It's
> fabulous!
>
> I grew up going to the theater. Both my parents were actors at one point
> in their lives, and I have attended professional shows, high school shows
> and elementary school shows. I have been to theaters in London and
> London, Ont. and the Shaw Festival, but nothing compares to a live show
> with audio description. Happy reading. I hope you'll have the
> opportunity to see more live theater. There's nothing like it!
>
> Ann P.
>
> Original message:
>> Recently bookshare has started producing dramatic pieces for their
>> collection, which got me thinking about drama from a blind person's
>> perspective.
>> I must admit that my exposure to drama has been limited and not
>> necessarily productive. As a junior high and high school student I was
>> exposed to the usual slate of plays (i.e. Shakespeare's Macbeth and
>> Julius Caesar, Oscar Wilde's "the importance of being Earnest" (why any
>> self-respecting teacher would impose that drabble on their students is
>> beyond me), and "she stoops to conquer" (was that Malory?). But, I wasn't
>> impressed.
>> During my senior year, however, we had to read "Othello" which I thought
>> was interesting. However, following our close examination of this
>> play(sometimes it seemed ad nausea), our instructor took us to see it
>> performed by the University of Texas drama department. The instructor was
>> able to get us front row seats because no one else wanted to crane their
>> neck to see the stage, but from my perspective I loved it because I could
>> tell where each player was on the stage. However, I had just settled
>> down, perhaps to sleep <smile> when two characters in the play got into a
>> sword fight right in front of me, and one of them died two feet away from
>> me. I unconsciously reacted by throwing up my arms to help the poor
>> fellow, and, I heard the dead actor quietly snicker at my reaction. So, I
>> knew then, I could be moved by a dramatic performance.
>> A couple of days ago I downloaded "three plays" by Thornton Wilder. The
>> plays in this collection are: "OUR TOWN", "THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH" and
>> "THE MATCHMAKER". I was particularly interested in reading "our town"
>> ever since I had heard a radio dramatization of it by Orson Wells a few
>> years ago. However, I wasn't prepared for the richness of theatrical
>> descriptions this play provided. While reading the play, I could place
>> each character on the stage, imagine the various settings in the play
>> (main street, a house, a graveyard etc.). In other words, this play came
>> to life for me. For example, the play begins,
>
>> "ACT I
>
>> No curtain.
>
>> No scenery.
>
>> The audience, arriving, sees an empty stage in half-light.
>
>> Presently the stage manager, hat on and pipe in mouth,
>
>> enters and begins placing a table and three chairs downstage
>
>> left, and a table and three chairs downstage right. He also
>
>> places a low bench at the corner of what will be the Webb
>
>> house, left.
>
>> "Left" and "right" are from the point of view of the actor
>
>> facing the audience. "Up" is toward the back wall.
>
>> As the house lights go down he has finished setting the stage
>
>> and leaning against the right proscenium pillar watches the
>
>> late arrivals in the audience.
>
>> When the auditorium is in complete darkness he speaks:". This is much
>> better than Mr. Shakespeare's "exeunt stage right".
>> So, I guess I'm saying thanks to Bookshare for providing this wonderful
>> experience, and I invite any of you who think they hate dramatic
>> performances to try once more with Mr. Wilder's "three plays".
>> Thanks,
>> Bob
>
>> "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful,
>> committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is
>> the only thing that ever has."--Margaret Mead
>
> --
> Ann K. Parsons
> Portal Tutoring
> EMAIL: akp@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> web site: http://www.portaltutoring.info
> blog:
> http://www.samobile.net/users/akp/blog
> Skype: Putertutor
>
> "All that is gold does not glitter,
> Not all those who wander are lost."
>
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