American Repertory Theatre

American Repertory Theater Announces Schedule for
2012-13 Season ASL and Audio Described Performances

Cambridge, Mass —American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) has scheduled American Sign Language (ASL) interpreted performances and Audio Described performances for productions during the A.R.T.’s 2012-13 Season at the Loeb Drama Center.

The schedule is as follows:

Marie Antoinette:
ASL Interpreted performance: Sunday, September 23 @ 2:00pm and Tuesday, September 25 at 7:30pm
Audio Described performance: Wednesday, September 26 @ 7:30pm and Saturday, September 29 @ 2:00pm.
A Touch tour of costumes and production materials will be held in the West Lobby one hour prior to curtain.

The world premiere production by David Adjmi, directed by Rebecca Taichman provides a peek into the life of everyone’s favorite representative of the 1% — the infamous Queen of France and cake enthusiast. Though she delights and inspires her subjects with her three-foot tall wigs and extravagant haute couture, times change and even the most fashionable queens go out of style.

Marie Antoinette ASL Team Biographies:

Lucy Annett is a Boston-based ASL interpreter. Her theater interpreting credits include Coriolanus (Commonwealth Shakespeare Company), Candide (Huntington Theatre Company), and Hair the Musical (Broadway Across America-Boston). She previously interpreted Wild Swans forthe A.R.T. and is thrilled to return to this stage. She has worked in collaboration with many ASL consultants including Patrick McCarthy,Lana Cook, and Shira Grabelsky.

Michael Krajnak, CDI and ASL coach, has previously coached at the A.R.T. the world premiere of Wild Swans, The Snow Queen, and the 2012 Tony Award winning production of The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess. He has been seen in and acted in numerous productions in NYC including Off-Off Broadway at the New York DeafTheatre, Ltd. in The Mystery of Irma Vep. He has consulted for many theatre productions in the New England areaover the past 15 years including at Providence Performing Arts Center, Trinity Repertory Theatre, Perishable Theatre, Foothills Theatre, Wheelock Family Theatre, Stoneham Theatre, Boston University Theatre, The Opera House, and the Colonial Theatre. Among the productions he has interpreted are Fiddler on the Roof, The King and I, and To Kill a Mockingbird.

Janine Sirignano returns to the theatre after years spent exploring the Boston, D.C., and New York Deaf communities as a freelance interpreter. Her work has ranged from government and employment settings touniversity classrooms and wilderness environments. Her last theatre appearance was in 2002, interpreting George Bernard Shaw’s Heartbreak House at the Huntington Theatre Company. This is her A.R.T. debut.

Marie Antoinette Primary Audio Describer Biography:
Alice Austin has been describing visual media for people who are blind and visually impaired for twelve years. Beginning at WGBH’sDescriptive Video Service, she described countless hours of film and television programming, including The Sixth Sense, You’ve got Mail, Dracula, The Cider House Rules, and PBS’s Masterpiece Theatre, NOVA, and Mystery. Alice also provided live description for PBS’s coverage of the 2000 PresidentialInauguration. As a freelance audio describer, Alice has described museum exhibits, works of art, presentations, and educational videos, and providedlive description of the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston. Her extensive work describing theatre has been heard at such venues as The Weston Playhouse, The Huntington Theatre Company, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, The Wang Center, The Colonial Theatre, The Opera House, and New Repertory Theatre.

Pippin:
ASL Interpreted performance: Tuesday, January 8 @ 7:30pm and Sunday, January 13 @ 2:00pm.
Audio Described performance: Wednesday, January 9 @ 7:30pm and Saturday, January 12 @ 2:00pm

The Tony Award-winning musical by Stephen Schwartz, directed by Diane Paulus is a bold new staging of the dark and existential musical you thought you knew. Pippin, on a death-defying journey to find his “corner of the sky,” must choose between a life that’s ordinary or a flash of singular glory.

The Glass Menagerie:
ASL Interpreted performance: Tuesday, February 26 @ 7:30pm and Sunday, March 3 @ 2:00pm
Audio Described performance: Wednesday, February 27 @ 7:30pm and Saturday, March 2 @ 2:00pm

The exquisite family drama is presented in a new staging directed John Tiffany, with Cherry Jones as Amanda Wingfield. While Amanda desperately struggles to provide her fragile daughter with at least one “gentleman caller,” her son, Tom, dreams of escaping from his job at a warehouse and his oppressive life at home.

Hansel & Gretel: Sunday, December 30 at 11:00am and Thursday, January 6 at 11:00am.

In the tradition of last season’s sold-out holiday hit The Snow Queen, the A.R.T. brings another classic children’s story to life—this time, the Brothers Grimm tale of a brother, a sister, a breadcrumb trail, and a suspicious gingerbread house in the woods. Graduate acting students from the A.R.T. Institute for Advanced Theater Training star in this energetic and interactive re-telling, sure to be a sweet holiday treat for the whole family.

Further information with listings of ASL and audio describers for Pippin, The Glass Menagerie, and Hansel & Gretel will be announced at a later date.

The Loeb Drama Center, located at 64 Brattle Street, Harvard Square, Cambridge, is accessible to persons with special needs and to those requiring wheelchair seating or first-floor restrooms. Deaf and hard-of-hearing patrons can alsoreach the theater by calling the toll-free N.E. Telephone Relay Center at 1-800-439-2370.

For further information call 617-547-8300 or visit http://www.americanrepertorytheater.org

This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.