----- Original Message ----- From: "BlindNews Mailing List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, February 08, 2008 6:41 AM Subject: Enthusiasts popularize theater audio description for the blind in Poland
> polskieradio > Thursday, November 22, 2007 > > Enthusiasts popularize theater audio description for the blind in Poland > > By Joanna Najfeld > > Audio description is a technique which allows blind and visually impaired > people to experience the visual arts almost like sighted persons do. A > special additional narration track helps non-sighted theater, movie or TV > spectators visualize what is happening on the stage or cinema screen. The > idea seems to be catching on in Poland thanks to enthusiasts who > popularize it. > > The idea of audio description was first tried twenty six years ago at a > theater in Washington, DC. It was pioneered in Poland a year ago by an > enthusiast of audio description, 27-year old Tomasz Strzyminski, a blind > person himself, who managed to convince a cinema to organize a screening > of a movie with audio description for the non-sighted part of the > audience. Before Tomasz Strzymiñski lost his sight, he was a cinema lover. > "When I became blind, I realized how much a non-sighted person misses. > Audio description allows us - to an extent - to understand what is > happening." > > The movie screening one year ago was a success, but Tomasz Strzyminski > wanted more and so he came to talk to the director of the puppet theater > in Bia³ystok, Marek Waszkiel > "One year ago he came to the theater and he started to talk to me about > this audio description. It wasn't absolutely known for me at that moment. > But steps by step, thanks to his energy, we decided to do it with the > spectators, with our actors, with some people invited to the theater, on > the base of this "Rabbit on the Moon"." > > "There is a rabbit on the moon" is the play that was shown to a group of > sighted and blind children. Tomasz Strzymiñski again: > "The non-sighted children had their headphones on, and could hear the > colorful narration of the audio describer. He was telling them what was > going on on the stage - that a little star lights up or a bicycle appears > with a backpack on it, or a skeleton of a fish, which will swallow a > little soldier in a while." > > This is how the kids could visualize the whole story in their minds and it > seemed the idea really worked, says Marek Waszkiel of the Puppet Theater > in Bia³ystok: > "Oh, it was an enormous success! I am really so happy because it wasn't so > easy. It was really the first time in our theater and probably the first > time in Poland as well. And this performance is very special. It's really > for the young children and we invited them all to a very special area, a > kind of chapiteaux, and they felt like in the night, with all the miracles > and funny objects. Audio description was very special, because the story > was not linear, it was a very poetical, magical theater. Well, I am happy > we decided to do it and the first presentation was really a big success." > > Depending on the availability of specialized equipment, the Bia³ystok > Puppet Theater is ready to stage "There is a rabbit on the moon" at the > National Theater in Warsaw, maybe as early as next month. And with so much > energy of enthusiasts like Tomasz Strzymiñski who are behind the project, > audio description is sure to spread in Poland and bring unforgettable > experiences to many. > > > BlindNews Mailing List > Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] with "subscribe" as subject > > Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] with "unsubscribe" as subject > > Moderator: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Archive: http://GeoffAndWen.com/blind > > RSS: http://GeoffAndWen.com/BlindNewsRSS.asp > > More information about RSS feeds will be published shortly. Send instant messages to your online friends http://in.messenger.yahoo.com To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
