The cast of Variety Children's Theater's production of "Mary Poppins." Photograph by Gerry Love
When he was 16 years old, Andrew Adolphson volunteered to work the soundboard for the 2013 production of Disney’s Peter Pan with Variety Children’s Theatre. Night after night, he cued up buttons to help bring the magical world of Never-Never Land to life. He always chuckled along with the audience—except once. Andrew is blind, and one joke came with no sound cue.
A pair of headphones from MindsEye changed all that. The Belleville, Illinois-based nonprofit is dedicated to “help[ing] keep those in the blind and visually impaired community stay connected and self-reliant,” says Jason Fraizer, the company’s Development Director. With their equipment, Adolphson listened as a volunteer described the sight gag to him for the first time and he finally laughed along.
Since 2009, Variety Children’s Theatre has blended together the talents of professional equity actors and an ensemble of children of all abilities at the Touhill Performing Arts Center, and with MindsEye technology, visually impaired audience members are now able to achieve the full theatre experience.
This season’s production of Mary Poppins marks the third year of the charity’s partnership with MindsEye. Each performance, the company sends a “describer,” a volunteer who sits in the lighting and sound booth and offers visually impaired audience members a verbal play-by-play of everything that they can’t see for themselves. Armed with a script, pencil, and lots of time spent watching dress rehearsals; the volunteers work to give the most authentic and emotional portrayal of the show to the visually impaired community as they possibly can. With the describer acting as their eyes through a pair of special headphones, those with visual impairments are able to experience the slapstick, costumes, and sets of the theatre just as much as everyone else.
Mary Poppins is the story of a father learning to see the world through his children’s eyes, thus filling his life with childhood magic once more. For actress Elizabeth Derosa, who portrays the titular role, it goes much deeper.
Most people associate the whimsical storyline with famous songs such as “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” or “Spoonful of Sugar,” but Derosa’s favorite is “Feed the Birds,” a number that, she says, “is about inclusion. It’s about seeing everybody for who they really are, no matter what’s happening on the outside.”
The bird woman lives on the street walks about in tattered old rags as she offers food to the pigeons of London. Mary teaches the Banks children to look past appearances, and appreciate her for who she truly is.
By taking the opportunity to see the world from new perspectives, we become much better versions of ourselves, Jean Steck, Variety Children’s Charity’s Communication Manager says. “It doesn’t take a magical nanny to teach us that.”
Variety Children’s Theatre’s performance of Mary Poppins runs from Friday, October 23 to Sunday, October 25. The show is directed by Tony Award nominee Lara Teeter, and boasts a cast of 18 Variety kids on stage and 10 behind the scenes. It is also the only professional production of Mary Poppins to include a children’s ensemble. Viewers can even look forward to Bert tap-dancing upside down on the ceiling of the proscenium. For more information on Mary Poppins, or to purchase tickets, go here—and note that Friday's matinee is already sold out.
