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EXTANT QUARTERLY UP-DATE – spring 05. Extant is the first performing arts organisation in the UK run for and by visually impaired people. It is our intention to provide an extant update every quarter to keep those on our contact list informed about our developing activities. We will also have this up date available to read on our web site, for anyone who isn't on our contact list. Contents; * Hello *reviews, *Coming up. *Hello! Bumper issue this season folks, now the grease paint has finally been put away, and the curtain has temproarily fallen on our first production and it’s national tour. It’s time to kick back with a G and T, get some R and R, and share with you some of our reflections on the recent past, and highlight plans for the near future. We'd like to thank those of you who came to see Resistance. Particular thanks also for the 200 plus, completed evaluation forms. We've had a lot of good feedback. To those of you who didn't manage to experience the show this time, don't despair, there maybe another opportunity soon, read on. *Reviews. 1. Resistance. 2. RADA . 3. Visually Impaired Working Group. 4. Charity registration. 1. Extant’s production of ‘Resistance’ written by Maria Oshodi, played 29 performances at 19 venues across the country this spring. We have received an incredible overwhelming response from the visually impaired and sighted audience to the content, access and high quality touch tours of the set that we provided before each show. Scores of evaluation forms from our audience have re-enforced the importance and relevance of our work. In Resistance a cast of six visually impaired actors explored the extraordinary true story of Jacques Lusseyran, a blind, teenage leader within the resistance movement of occupied Paris. The drama used an abstract set designed by Andrea Carr and used different theatrical genres, including story-telling, physical theatre and dance, challenging areas for the visually impaired performers to work in. The production also built in live access of the visual elements of the play, for visually impaired audiences, creatively interwoven into the production through live description and sound created by partially sighted composer Adrian Lee. During the 8-week rehearsal process we consulted with a group of visually impaired people external to the creative process and in this show attempted to create an accessible piece of theatre for visually impaired audiences so that they did not have to wear headsets. This was a challenging, ambitious and completely unique project that took the whole production team on a rigorous personal and professional journey of huge discovery, that was both painful and inspirational at times. We went from Peter Brook visiting us during one of our rehearsals in january,great reviews in the Guardian and audience members so moved that they came out of the theatre crying, to arriving at venues to find the set not fitting on the stage, actors tantrums and tears from our production staff… but I guess that’s theatre! Here are some quotes from some of our evaluation forms: “I was extremely moved and almost in tears at a few points - mainly because of the power of the story itself, but also because of the juxtaposition created between this true story, the experience of the actors and my own perceptions and experience of living with a visual impairment - the liberation portrayed was not simply limited to a particular period in history but of crucial relevance to all those of us who believe that visual impairment is about living rather than coping.” Mike Holroyd “i loved resistance, it was amazing, it has me trawling the internet to get more information on Jacques Lusseyran and his books.” alison knotts “There were times when I couldn't follow the story. (I only got to read the programme later, when I realised that it was a deliberate choice.) I thought I was being slow and stupid in my need for something more linear. I can usually keep up with things. I was worrying about what I might be missing. Then a strange thing happened. Just as I stopped worrying baout actors bashing into things, I also stopped worrying about getting hold of information. Somehow, then, i was able to let the play happen. I relaxed. And then i began to experience the thing in a more impressionistic way, perhaps like a collage. I stopped trying to control the experience I was happening. This was odd, because this shift was followed by the (very beautiful)section in which the older Jacques describes the loss of sight and what he gained as a result. It somehow felt like a rather similar process, a sort of letting go, and a having to find some humility in the face of things.” Emma Spurgin Hussey As part of the tour we also ran a series of drama and writing workshops in Worcester Red Hill, Loughborough, Birmingham Truro and Wellingborough. These were delivered to a range of groups, including, young people, visually impaired people, learning disabled people and drama and dance students. Each workshop was carefully tailored for the specific group and we received an excellent reception to the workshops as a result. 2. Eileen Dillon, the director of Resistance, and Maria, led a full day practical workshop in mid may for 20 current Rada students and graduates from the drama school, who attended the workshop because of their interest in inclusive work practise. The day involved an introduction to some of the work methods that Extant has built up, which access visually impaired actors to physical theatre in an accessible way. The day was a great success and was attended by RADA’s first visually impaired student, who had come to see resistance at Riverside with a group from the school. There are plans for Extant to work more closely with RADA on workshops, training and possibly productions in the future. 3. Through the Arts Council London regional office’s visually impaired working group, a grant has been awarded to Extant to manage 3 seminars on web site accessibility. The seminars will initially be for Arts Council revenue funded organisations, but hopes are to scope this out if successful. Extant has contracted in JBC London and Apart Consultancy to deliver content, coordinate and evaluate the first three seminars, due to take place in October/November of this year. 4. Extant became a Company limited by guarantee in 2004 to give it an official status. We are pleased to announce that it is now also a Charity. This dual status will assist it to develop its work and to be in a better position to obtain funding for its work. It is hoped to develop a long-term strategy to give Extant a higher profile and scope to develop its sphere of influence and ability to assist those it represents. Maria and Damien now have dual roles as Directors of the Company and Trustees of the Charity and June Bretherton is the Secretary. Plans are afoot to increase the number of Board members as other expertise becomes needed. 1. Resistance re-tour. 2.Tour of Weights . 3. Letter from Lynn 4. Sports shorts drama writing competition. 5. Dance course for visually impaired adults. 6. Scope research article.7. Holiday information. 8. Website. 1. Extant has been invited to present the production of Resistance in France, Croatia and other venues in england later this year, and we intend to capitalise on the themes of the play during this 60th anaversary year of the end of the 2WW. We are at present working towards raising funds to mount a re-tour of Resistance this autumn. This will give us the chance to bring in changes to the production which we became increasingly aware were needed but were reluctant to introduce in an already extremely challenging process for everyone in the company. 2. Our national tour of the Los Angeles based Lynn Manning in his production of Weights has been confirmed and will be taking place from 19 November to 10 december 2005. We will be touring the powerful blind African American writer/performer to Croydon, Brighton, Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol and London. More details in our next newsletter and on our web site nearer the time. We are also proud to announce that Gary Burgman a talented blind actor and musician from the New York Company theatre By the Blind, will be joining Lynn as part of the production of Weights. 3. To the Editor of The New York Times: From: Lynn Manning Los Angeles –May 2005. Someone forwarded to me the NY Times’ May 8 article about the current production of Maeterlinck's The Blind. Both as a blind man, and a blind actor on stage and screen, I must respond. Back in 1995, I belonged to The Wilton Project theater ensemble, here in Hollywood. One of the producing directors was enamored of Maeterlinck's The Blind. He thought it would be a very cool thing for me, the only blind actor in the company, to portray the most active of the play's all blind characters. After reading the play, I passed and even protested the company doing the piece. In consideration of mounting a production, Wilton Project held a staged reading followed by an open discussion with the audience. Everyone agreed with the producer that this depiction of nearly a dozen blind people stranded in the woods after the death of their caretaker (unbeknownst to them) was a powerful metaphor for the rudderless, directionless, state of human societies after the collapse of the "old world order." I, the only blind person at the reading, was the only one that thought the play was highly offensive to blind people and perpetuated long entrenched stereotypes of blind helplessness, mental deficiency, lack of self motivation, and ultimate inability to even come in out of the cold without sighted assistance. Of course, many of the actors and audience members thought that I was being "way too sensitive." When I suggested they replace the blind characters with a collection of fair-haired women and call it "The Blondes," attitudes shifted dramatically. Suddenly, the metaphor wasn't so benign. Wilton Project decided not to produce the play. Too late for this production and, since the writer doesn't take on the merits of the original play or this adaptation, what's truly troubling to this blind actor, is the article's emphasis on the incredible bravery of the sighted cast to attempt performing this play, blind! The actors walked a few blocks, blindfolded; shed tears of empathy when wearing opaque contact lenses for the first time; and amazed audiences with the fact that they truly couldn't see while performing on stage. What amazes me is that any of this is considered exceptional at all. Exceptional would be blind and visually impaired actors taking on sighted roles, or blind roles, or any roles at all on stage or screen. They/we do exist. There are theatre companies around the world whose majority ensemble members are blind and visually impaired. Many of them will be attending The 4th International Blind And Visually Impaired Theatre Festival in Zagreb, Croatia, later this year. People need to hear about that. New York City has a company called Theatre By The Blind (TBTB) that actually employs professional blind and visually impaired actors in Off Broadway productions. Right now, the company is in rehearsals for its June production of Oedipus. How about an article on "real" blind actors doing real good theatre and the intestinal fortitude that that requires? I'm certain the anecdotes shared would prove far more entertaining and enlightening than walking a few blocks blindfolded and nearly stepping in dog poop. Lynn Manning/Co-founder Watts Village Theatre Company www.wattsvillagetheatercompany.orggg ----------------------------… and here’s a copy of the article below…) New York Times Sunday, May 08, 2005 On the Stage of the Blind By ZACHARY PINCUS-ROTH Extreme method acting alert: in the Vortex Theatre Company's production of "The Blind," Maurice Maeterlinck's 1890 play about sightless people in a forest waiting for their caretaker to return, the three actors wear opaque contact lenses that make them unable to see. Newly adapted by Bathsheba Doran, the play runs at the Classic Stage Company from Wednesday to next Sunday. Zachary Pincus-Roth talked to the company about learning to walk, talk and act blind. THE BLINDFOLDS For about three weeks the actors wore blindfolds during rehearsal and practiced listening to one another to orient themselves on the mostly empty stage. They also had to lose habits blind people don't have, like pointing and turning to look at a sound source. THE CONTACTS When Libby King first put them in, she started to cry. "It was an empathy thing," she said. "It was just a really jarring, upsetting thing." The lenses, made by Vision Direct and called Blind Eye (they're usually sold for Halloween use), make the eyes look completely white. The actors see a whiteness but can detect light and dark somewhat. For the first rehearsal with contacts, the director, Kristjan Thorgeirsson, made the actors walk from 11th Avenue and 23rd Street to Ninth Avenue and 22nd Street. It took an hour. "We'd say, 'Are we on 23rd Street?' and no one would answer," Hannah Kenah said. A homeless man finally told them when to cross the street. Joshua Randall, the artistic director, intervened only when Robert M. Johanson was about to step in dog faeces. The excursion also drummed up publicity, as Mr. Randall passed out fliers to bemused onlookers. THE PERFORMANCES In an earlier run at the Frying Pan, the former lightship moored near Chelsea Piers, the actors performed on a metal floor among planks, pits and other obstacles while distracted by creaks, construction noise and helicopters. It was still better than the Classic Stage Company's smooth indoor stage. "The floor of the boat acted like Braille, because there were so many beams and bumps and indicators," Ms. Kenah said. Mr. Thorgeirsson noticed that many audience members did not appear to know that the actors could not see until the curtain call, when they grabbed for one another's hands. Late in the run, the contacts were lost and the actors performed with sight. "It was awful," Mr. Johanson said. Ms. Kenah, who at one point has to run into audience members, had to watch them cringe. "I've kind of fallen in love with performing blind," she said. "It strips away a layer of self-consciousness." 4. Sports Shorts is a drama writing competition run by BBC Radio 5 Live in conjunction with the BBC writer's room. Entrants will be asked to write a script for a short drama of up to 10 minutes based on their best sporting moment, whether real or imaginary, comical or poignant. The best stories will again be made into radio dramas to be aired on Sport on Five with the potential also to be broadcast on BBC London. Bob Shennan said of last year's competition, "This is one of the most innovative and adventurous projects Five Live has ever undertaken. It gives listeners with a passion for sport and a flare for writing an > opportunity to really get involved with the station's output." To help budding writers craft their stories Five Live will be setting up a series of inspiring workshops around the UK offering advice and support. The closing date for the competition is the 31st July 2005 > with winning entries being broadcast in Autumn 2005. The London workshop will take place on Wednesday 8th June at 6.15pm at Oxford House, Derbyshire St, London E2 6HG, It's a short walk from Bethnal Green station. The session should end by 7.45 and the bar will be open for refreshments. There will also be a guest writer in attendance providing tips on developing characters etc. For more information, contact Sue Caro at [email protected] Sadler’s Wells is holding a summer dance course for visually impaired adults who have never danced before. The course will run over 8 weeks and during that time the participants will learn simple dance steps and with the help of the workshop leader, learn a short dance. 5. When: The 8 week course starts on Thursday 7th July and then every Thursday until 25th August from 6.00 – 8.00pm. There will be a final informal performance on Friday 26th August in the Lillian Baylis Theatre. Where: The workshops will take place at Central School of Ballet 10 Herbal Hill, Clerkenwell Road London EC1R 5EG Nearest tube: Farringdon (Circle and Metropolitan Lines) Chancery Lane (Central Line) Buses: 19, 38, 45, 46, 55, 53, 171 and 171a How Much: This course is Free If you would like more information or to secure a place please contact Sarah Baker on 020 78638096 or email [email protected]. 6. We received the following from VIP on Air the radio station for blind and partially > sighted people supported by BBC Radio Scotland, the RNIB, Visibility, > Guide Dogs and Glasgow City Council. Scope have just released some > research concerning the publics attitudes to non disabled actors playing > A person who has a disability. Shock findings from a poll commissioned to celebrate the first > Anniversary of Scope's Time to Get Equal campaign, will confirm the fears of many disabled actors. In response to the question: "Do you think it is acceptable or > unacceptable for a non-disabled person to play the part of a disabled person in drama or film", a staggering 78 per cent of respondents thought it was > Acceptable. Only a third of respondents thought there were too few disabled people on TV these days. The findings will come as a blow to disabled actors and should send a strong warning to film-makers and casting directors to be aware of deeply held prejudices. The statistics are a sobering reminder that there is still a long way to go for genuine equality for all in the performing arts. The Bill's Luke Hamill said "Although there are many budding disabled actors out there looking for jobs, the opportunities are few, and the roles are frequently typecast as medical or tokenistic. This survey highlights the desperate need for more creative script writing and much more inclusive casting". Recent Scope surveys have also shown that getting out to the cinema and theatre is a real challenge for disabled people: 80% of leisure venues, including cinemas and theatres are inaccessible to disabled people. Disabled people are portrayed as objects of pity in the media. The current transport network is entirely unsuitable for disabled people. Maria has been invited to talk live on the radio about the profile of disabled > Actors, problems with visibility, training, recruitment etc. The interview will take place on Wednesday the > First of June at 3.30 until 3.45 p.m. For further information contact Simon Walsh, 020 7619 7203 or email: [email protected] 7. After an exhausting first half of this year, we don’t know about you, but our thoughts are certainly turning to sun, sea and… sand? One of our readers who responded to an item in our last newsletter about the BBC recruiting for a group of disabled people to make a programme traveling around Nikoragua, was successful in the selection and joined the team as the only blind member. He finished filming recently and as a result has set up the following travel company. OPEN SKIES…WITH TRAVELEYES Traveleyes is a revolutionary service, arranging independent world travel for visually impaired and sighted travellers. This is the first travel company in the U.K to be specifically designed to facilitate independent WORLD travel for blind people. Traveleyes (www.traveleyes.co.uk) was launched earlier this year. Its founder, Amar Latif is blind and is a seasoned world traveller with a passion for exploration. He sees no reason why visually impaired travellers should accept restrictions on their travel aspirations and achievements. Amar has just returned from the Nicaraguan jungle of Central America where he has been appearing in a BBC2 documentary series called “Beyond Boundaries”. The programme explores the levels of endurance attainable by travellers of various disabilities when they find themselves at the sharp end of ‘roughing it’ through dense jungle. The series, to be aired in autumn of this year, documents the journey of eleven disabled people trekking all the way from the ‘Mosquito coast’ on Nicaragua’s Atlantic side, across the rainforest interior for two hundred miles to the Pacific coast. In contrast to this, Amar’s next trip is to a stunningly beautiful part of Andalucia where his clients / fellow travellers are invited to sample the sensory richness and cultural diversity of the ‘real Spain’, in June 2005. Before the emergence of Traveleyes there were very few customised holidays available for visually impaired people. Those that did exist were generally restrictive in terms of destinations, and often tended to be inflexible and very expensive. Traveleyes has changed all of that. It seeks to introduce vision and imagination into the travel possibilities open to the visually impaired, as well as helping to make lighter work of the necessary practical, planning and technical matters. Travellers with Traveleyes are no longer patronized, nor are they placed in the ignominious position of having to plead for ‘special case’ consideration or argue with the inflexibilities of mass-market companies dominated by the demands of the sighted general public. With Traveleyes the visually impaired world traveller is no longer required to ‘tag along’ as either a welcome or tolerated appendage to the peer-group holiday. With Traveleyes, the needs, desires and fulfilment of the blind traveller are at centre stage. With this company, cohesive groups of blind and sighted travellers explore together the holiday destinations on equal footing as new friendships are formed and sealed by shared experience in foreign climes. Traveleyes offers holidays to many destinations including America, Africa and Europe, all with quality of experience as the central ingredient and at affordable prices. It has been developed from the valuable experience of many blind travellers including the founder, Amar Latif. Traveleyes has a fully accessible website which includes up-to-date destination details, useful travel information, news, and an interactive area which allows travellers to share their experiences. There are plans for Traveleyes to expand into expedition travel. The Traveleyes customer-base consists of blind and sighted people aged 18 and over. They include people who want to live life to the maximum, and also those who merely want to ‘chill out’ in exotic locations. Either way this is the holiday route for those seeking to meet interesting people and share a common taste for adventure. Whether travellers wish to come with a group of friends or as individuals, Traveleyes empowers the visually impaired and the sighted traveller to work together. On a Traveleyes holiday, much of the content of the activity is driven by the mutual ideas, plans and wishes of the blind and sighted travellers. The sighted travellers come from all walks of life. They include workers from corporate environments, retail work, students, and older people. By opting to go with Traveleyes the sighted travellers have the opportunity to explore the world at subsidised rates. As well as the obvious advantages and breadth of experience that travel brings, the Traveleyes system builds confidence and provides new scope for all involved. Our blind and sighted travellers, are together empowered to venture beyond boundaries, defy restrictions and grasp a real sense of independence and fulfilment. There are fourteen places now available to explore the memorable beauty and cultural highlights of the Andalucian countryside, accompanied by the wonderful local food and wine of the ‘real Spain’. Seven places are for blind travellers, and seven are for sighted travellers. Anyone requiring further information about this or any of the future destinations can call Traveleyes direct on 08709 220 221 or visit www.traveleyes.co.uk. 8. Due to recent technical problems, we have been unable to up-date the Extant website. However, these issues have now been resolved and the site will be updated over the next few days with reviews, comments and images from the Resistance tour along with details of up and coming events. We are always keen to gain feedback on the accessibility of the Extant site. You can access the site at www.extant.org.uk and go to the accessibility link. From there you will be given a choice of either "accessible" or "Inaccessible" Choose one of these links and your email client will be automatically opened with the "to" and "subject" fields already completed. Just insert your comments into the edit field and send. Any queries or comments, please contact us at [email protected] That's all for this quarter. The next Extant news letter will be produced at the end of August. Maria Oshodi Damien O'Connor Extant Directors.