Greetings, All, Miss Ruth here! I’ve started a fan club for a Dear Heart of mine, Jack Tomy. The fan club is called, of course, “The Jack-ettes” and I’ve even had a Jack-et made with Jack’s picture on it! Haute couture, it is not, but it is heartfelt. I’ll be wearing it this Sunday at the Audio Described performance of Bull Durham!
I know it’s a silly endeavor at my “seasoned” age to wear a jacket with someone’s photo on it (not just one, but multiple Jacks, all over the Jack-et!), but there’s a method to my madness.
People may be amused, but they will also ask questions. Why are you such a fan of Jack Tomy?
Well now! Thank you kindly for asking. Jack and Paper Mill Playhouse (PMP), located in Millburn, New Jersey, have made the access needs of the community of People With Disabilities a priority.
As Associate Director of Audience Experience, Jack leads the Audio Description Advisory Program at PMP, a program in which members of the vision loss community, like me, attend Audio Described performances, listening to the Audio Description (AD) via small devices with earbuds, and then we give feedback. It shows a commitment to the Disability Community credo: “Nothing about us, without us.”
Also, there will be audience members at Bull Durham on Sunday who have relatives with vision loss, but, since they don’t need access services themselves, have never looked into it. They may learn from this Jack-et that their relatives who are blind or have low vision can have a theatre experience commensurate with their own because of the PMP AD program.
Plus, I get to be as quirky as I want to be as I sail into my golden years! If you can’t show up as yourself at the theatre, where can you show up as yourself? Dear hearts, as your Kindly Auntie, I’d like to remind you: there’s only one of you on the planet. You might as well be yourself!
