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Even ts !
S p r i n g 201 8
Learning, Building, Reshaping, Adjusting:
Highlights from the 2018 AATE Symposium
By Fran Sillau and Emily Baldwin
In February 2018, a group of artists, educators,
and administrators gathered in Louisville, KY for
AATE’s Symposium on “Best Practices: Inclusive
and Accessible Theatre.” Conference attendees
ranged in levels of experience doing inclusion
work with audiences, artists, and participants with
disabilities; some brought many years of expertise
while others were just starting to break into this
field. The conference was coordinated by Tall-
eri McRae, a Lousiville-based teaching artist and
access consultant, along with members of AATE’s
Inclusive Theatre Special Interest Group (S.I.G.). The
weekend featured tours, performances, workshop
classes, discussions, and presentations led by
local professionals as well as experts from around
the country.
Following the Reader’s Theater performance, I
attended a production of The Trojan Women at
Commonwealth Theatre Center, a local youth the-
atre. However, I quickly realized that this was not
just any ordinary production of this classic story;
this presentation included cast and crew mem-
bers who happened to be on the autism spec-
trum. The interesting notion about Commonwealth
Theatre Company, is their mission did not specif-
ically state that individuals with disabilities were
included in the artistic life of the theatre. However,
when individuals on the spectrum wanted to be
involved Commonwealth, the organization found
a meaningful way to include individuals as actors,
technicians, and crew members. The individuals
FRAN
The weekend began by touring Lincoln Performing
Arts School in Louisville, a cutting-edge arts-infu-
sioned school in the heart of Louisville. I was excit-
ed to view a performance of The Doctor In Spite of
Himself by Molière performed by the Braille Read-
ers Theater of Louisville, a group of artists who
are either blind or visually impaired. This troupe
performs throughout the community and the state
of KY on a regular basis.
Reader’s Theatre traditionally performs with no
sets or costumes and with few props. The cos-
tumes and scenery were not needed as the ac-
tors’ voices and simple movements painted a vivid
picture that told the audience all they needed to
know to be drawn into the world of the play. I was
struck by how the troupe illustrated with ease that
a number of paths exist when it comes to creat-
ing engaging and inclusive theatrical experiences.
One insight from this performance was simply that
the inclusion of individuals who are blind and vis-
ually impaired in theatrical performance is totally
achievable at every level of theatre-making if the
staging is clearly defined and all team members
and ensemble maintain open communication
throughout the entire process.
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Spring 2 018
If I had to choose one major take-away for this
experience it would be that inclusion of people
with disabilities can happen at any theatre com-
pany regardless of what the mission statement
states. Along those same lines, when an organi-
zation strives to take on this type of inclusion, it is
important they find a path to include those mem-
bers as a full part of the ensemble. In other words,
treat them as you would any other team member.
Organizations can create the most successful
outcomes when they are open to fully including
whoever comes to their doors.
The Symposium included individuals on different
stages of their journeys in relation to access and
inclusion. However, no matter what stage of the
journey they were on, there was something for
everyone to take away from the gathering. I was
excited to be a part of what I hope is the first of
many gatherings like this.
EMILY
On Day #2 the Symposium attendees were treat-
ed to a performa nce featuring many of the best
practices covered throughout the conference.
StageOne Family Theatre teamed up with Kentucky
Shakespeare to produce a 70-minute production
of Hamlet at The Kentucky Center for the Arts and
we got to be part of their sensory-friendly matinee.
This performance featured all the common ac-
commodations of a sensory-friendly (also called
“autism-friendly” or “relaxed”) performance as well
as other services including ASL interpreting, cap-
tioning, and audio description.
Many of the accommodations they offered were
familiar to me, but I was pleasantly surprised to
see The Kentucky Center incorporating other crea-
tive approaches that I hadn’t experienced before.
Highlights include:
with disabilities that were working on The Trojan
Women had been with the company for some
time and had essentially grown into their current
roles. One of had a featured role, and the other
was a stage manager. Following the performance,
these team members participated in a talkback
session along with their parents. It struck me dur-
ing the talkback session how comfortable both of
them were talking about what they did with the
company. It was clear that they were important
parts of the ensemble and highly valued by fellow
ensemble members.
Events!
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Providing an online character guide and visual
timeline with pictures of each scene.
Having a video available online with a tour of
the facilities (the one for The Kentucky Center
features AATE’s own Talleri McRae who planned
the Symposium!).
Hosting a pre-show “touch tour” (a service
originally developed for blind and low vision
audiences in order to feel the major props and
costumes in the show).
Connecting with other local theaters to ensure
that they’re using similar language to describe
their services so audiences can better know
what to expect.
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As part of the curtain speech, the actors pre-
view select parts of the show. Specifically, they
walk through sections of the stage combat
to establish that it is all pretend and that the
actors are not really in danger.
Keeping the house lights at “a glow” so that
audiences can feel comfortable getting up
and moving around if they need to do so.
Laying down red tape along the floor in front of
the stage so that audiences know where not to
go if they do need to move around during the
performance.
I was hugely grateful to Talleri for planning a
Symposium targeted at giving attendees concrete
approaches they could apply as soon as they
returned to their communities. I’ve been part of so
many conferences where accessibility was dis-
cussed merely in abstract terms, or at the most at
the 101 level, whereas I finished the Symposium with
new ideas that I was able to incorporate into my
work as a teaching artist and an administrator.. At
the same time, I did notice that there were broad
common threads that connected each of the indi-
vidual topics that I learned about.
The following ideas were sprinkled throughout the
notes I took at different meetings, panels, and
reflections over the course of the weekend, but to
me they wonderfully reflect the best practices
common across all modes of accessibility: