Outlook Nebraska, Inc. now offers an audio description program in partnership with multiple local theatres so that the blind and visually-impaired may enjoy an afternoon or evening of theatre.
Rachel Carver, PR Associate for Outlook Nebraska, says there are 15,000 individuals in Omaha who are dealing with vision loss.
She says many of those used to enjoy live theatre when they had their sight but there are also those who have never been able to enjoy it.
Carver says the audio description program aims to change that.
She says what happens is a trained audio describer watches the show ahead of time.
On the day of the performance, they talk into a receiver describing scenes, costumes and action on stage in between the dialogue.
The visually-impaired person wears an earpiece and hears the description through a receiver with one dial that controls off and on as well as the volume.
"We had two visually-impaired parents with their sighted son who was four and one thing they said was they were able to engage with their son more about what was happening during “The Jungle Book” because it was getting described to them. So when he would say ‘Oh look, there’s the monkeys,’ they could both say, ‘yeah, there’s the monkeys,’ so it’s really putting everyone on an equal playing field in that regard.”
Carver says the program just started this fall thanks to grant funding from The Enrichment Foundation and the Gary and Mary West Foundation.
For more information on the service as well as a complete list of all audio described performances, the website is outlooknebraska.org/theater.