Newcity Stage: Emily Means Wills is a guide to theatrical action—a careful narrator of the balled fist, the glance at the door, the cow doing the can-can.
She doesn’t want to say a woman looked at a man “desperately”—that’s interpretation. So she’ll say the woman looked, and kept looking. She once had to figure out a way, during a performance of “Midnight Cowboy” at Lifeline Theatre, to describe a “super-grisly” scene of a big black phone getting jammed into someone’s mouth, and blood going everywhere.
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Before I read this article, I had no idea that audio described shows were even a thing. While I had heard of sensory aware shows or shows with closed captioning devices or other methods of helping those who are hard of hearing, this is the first time I have heard of live theater shows made accessible to people who have vision problems. This is a very cool thing and is really great to hear about. I also think that doing audio descriptions as a job sounds both incredibly cool and incredibly challenging. It seems like something that takes a lot of practice and I would love to hear it in action. I love that theaters are trying to make a better effort to make our form of art more accessible to everyone and I hope that accessibility continues to improve even further as more theaters take up practices like this one.
This article reminds me of a piece I really enjoy, 36 Questions. This is a podcast musical featuring Jonathan Groff and it is AMAZING. This podcast contains three episodes, each about an hour and a half long. It only has 2 performers in it, and is so incredibly immersive for just being for one’s ears. I have listened to it multiple times, and each time I am shocked by just how much I love it. I'm not much of a podcast listener, but this is a way to experience theatre in just the world of sound. Although this is very different, as there is essentially an interpreter in the theatre with a visually impaired audience member, it still has the same concept of making theatre accessible. It was really interesting to read about the exact process of audibly captioning a show. “After Wills listens to the performance, she reads the script. Then she’ll write her audience description script and practice it, making sure she has her rhythm and pacing down, so she won’t step on any dialogue.”
I had no idea that a position like this existed. To be completely honest I, guess I haven't put much thought into what theatre might be like for individuals that might have a more difficult time with their vision. I also had no idea that there was a “big need” for audio describers, but of course it makes sense after the pandemic. I have seen some of the other methods named in the article, such as the subtitles for those that are hard of hearing, and I worked for a company that had sensory friendly shows which did include exactly what the article mentioned such as leaving the house lights a bit brighter during the show and having the volume set a little bit lower, and individuals could move around the house throughout the show. Working for that company was my first exposure to any type of sensory friendly shows or even a show that was more accessible for specific people (other than typical protocols such as the captioning devices).
I did not know audio described shows were a thing until I read this article. I think it’s really great that this is part of the effort to make theater accessible. I knew that there are shows with captions or with ASL interpreters, but I didn't realize changes were beginning to be made for audience members who are visually impaired. I do wonder what prompted the implementation of shows like this. Was this something theaters started doing because they noticed a gap in their audience demographics? Did someone ask them to start doing it? I do wish information about accessible performances was more widespread. I’m getting the impression that information about when these performances happen, and if they happen at all, is hard to find. In addition to making them happen, it would be nice to see if they were given the spotlight to make audiences aware of their existence.
I love seeing accessibility devices like this enter the theatre. The first time I saw ASL interpreters at a show I thought it was a really neat idea, then I found out about the little handheld captioning devices and thought it was genius. And once again I see this and think that the future is now. I'm glad that inclusivity is being considered and actually accommodating people that need such things in order to allow them access to our art in a way that they might not have been able to previously.
I'm also not surprised to see that this audio descripting is only for select shows given the amount of time and prep that must go into making all of this happen.
Now that I think about it, the idea of unscripted audio commentary for a show where the person commentating the show has never seen it before would be really funny.
I adore how this audio describer talks about how her job is to describe but not analyze FOR the audience. I think that part of ableism is not understanding that just because a person is disabled does not mean that they have the mind of an infant. This interpreter allows for the audience member to interpret the piece of theatre themselves. And to me, interpretation of text is one of my favorite parts of theatre. I also believe making the arts more accessible in different ways is a necessary progression of theatre. The inaccessibility of the current theatre landscape inhibits the reach of the art form. I also am a strong believer that rather than seeing forms of accessibility as a hurdle we should see them as another way to express an artistic take on the material. In other words, an extension of the source material. Overall, I hope that the way of thinking of this interpreter becomes more global in theatre spaces.
It’s really interesting to read about the work and detail that goes into creating a successful audio description for theater. I knew about audio description for film and other recorded mediums, so it’s really interesting to see how it works in a live format. This job of audio describing by itself, is an art, another piece of our art form slotting into place to make it more accessible to everyone. The amount of passion and detail that Emily Means Wills puts into her work is really cool - even reading the article you can feel her enthusiasm and passion for her job. The job of audio describing requires a lot of detail and practice. Accessibility is so very important in theater, and I’m glad more theaters are beginning to incorporate audio descriptive performance along with ASL interpreters, captions, sensory friendly shows, touch tours, and more - to make theater more accessible and available for everyone.
This article was so so informative and just lovely to read. I think theatre needs to have a large conversation about accessibility for those with disabilities and it’s theatres like this that lead the charge. I’m sure for those with vision impairment who want to see theatre, it’s things like this that mean so much to them. I never knew that an “audio describer” was a job in theatre. What a cool and challenging job to have. The amount of preparation and practice one must go through to get this right is tough, I’m sure. But it also must be so rewarding. I find the little black microphone held up to the mouth a little humorous. I find it fitting to put the audio describer in the booth since that seems like a good spot to view the show, but also be a little away from the crowd so they won’t be able to hear a constant chatter.
I never realized that there was a career for audio describers in live theater. It makes perfect sense, there’s audio description in film and television, so why not allow the same opportunities in theater. This is such a cool job. It’s interesting to read about the challenges that can come up when describing an action-heavy scene. Also the point about making sure you're describing what’s happening on stage without interpreting too much of the emotion behind the actions. Part of what I love so much about theater is the different emotions it can bring up in people, and it’s a different experience for each audience member. It’s amazing that audio describers take that into account when describing the actions on stage. It can definitely be a slippery slope to influencing an audience members reaction to a scene. My biggest question in the end is this: how do you even get into a career like this? I hope that audio describers start to populate the theater industry all around the country and the world.
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