LOCATION

The Toronto Tranzac Club

292 Bruswick Ave. (just south of Bloor)

Toronto ON Canada

TICKETS

$18 at the door. 

To reserve email

commoncriminal@gmail.com

SHOWTIMES

Nov 25 Preview

Dress Rehearsal   8:00

Nov 26, 27, 28  8:00

Nov 29  2:00 and 8:00

Nov 30  2:00

COMMON CRIMINAL

A Dark Drama Written and Directed by Wanda C. Fitzgerald

THE STORY: A Dark Drama Based on Real Events.                      Befriended by a charming stranger, Maureen, a blind employee of Avon Probation Services, discovers she is being systematically stalked by a man convicted of the brutal rape and murder of a disabled woman.  Will further incarceration detour his goals, or simply postpone them? 

This unique drama features original live music, experimental POV Descriptive narration, interpretive dance and and integrated cast of blind and sighted actors.

LOCATION

The Toronto Tranzac Club

292 Bruswick Ave. (just south of Bloor)

Toronto ON Canada

TICKETS

$18 at the door. 

To reserve email

commoncriminal@gmail.com

SHOWTIMES

Nov 25 Preview

Dress Rehearsal   8:00

Nov 26, 27, 28  8:00

Nov 29  2:00 and 8:00

Nov 30  2:00

THE PROJECT: Live Described Audio Description                                           Originally presented in 2007 at the London Fringe Festival in London Ontario, Common Criminal is a theatre production project by Wanda Fitzgerald in conjunction with a development team from Ryerson University’s Centre for Learning Technologies, created to develop and present a theatrical production with integrated point of view audio description.  

Live theatre is an important mechanism in the dissemination of culture in North America.  Participation in cultural discourse requires access to these mechanisms.  However, a second and equally noteworthy purpose to live theatre is the pure fun and entertainment value it provides.  Access to theatre becomes more than access to the information, it also entails access to the entertainment.  Recent studies indicate that “access to information” and access to entertainment are two different strategies that may not overlap, and that when given a choice, people who are blind or low vision tend to prefer being entertained rather than informed for non-documentary content.

Evidenced by various high-profile lawsuits demanding an increase in the quantity and quality of accessibility features for theatre, film and television, people who are deaf, hard of hearing, low vision, and blind want considerable change to occur in policy and regulations as well as the implementation of accessible media content. To this effect, alternatives need to be developed and implemented which offer new methods for these individuals to access audio and visual information. Only then will everyone be able to share the common experience and discourse that arises out of viewing performance and entertainment media. 

Closed captioning and, more recently, described video information (DVI, also known as video description or described video), are mandated by the Canadian Radio and Television Commission (CRTC 2004) to provide access to television content for people who are deaf, hard of hearing or blind. Typically, closed captions and DVI are created and produced by third-party service providers after the entire production has wrapped. Quality control for these accessibility features is generally left up to the third-party entities, allowing content creators little opportunity to exert any creative control or be part of decisions.  

There is more opportunity now than in the past to address some of these issues with innovative solutions.  Also, broadcasters and content distributors are looking for innovative ways to meet government mandates for accessibility while maintaining creative control and having effective and efficient production and business strategies. By developing an unobtrusive narrative Point of View Audio Descriptive style, we hope to remove one of the barriers of access to entertainment for blind and low vision theatregoers.