By Maia Scott, Adult Programs Coordinator
 
There’s nothing like flipping down that theater seat and settling in anticipation for an evening of excellent Broadway theater with an earbud stuck into one ear and a receiver clipped on and ready. Having the opportunity to hear descriptions of sets, costumes, stage blocking and even dance variations has been a major game changer for blind theater patrons over the past few years at theaters such as the Orpheum, Golden Gate and the Curran. But what about inclusive options for the other ninety-eight percent of amazing Bay Area performances? Enter Gravity Access Services. They contract with local performance groups to enhance their shows with audio description. To learn more about the audio description process, listen to Jess Curtis talk about it in this video.
 
For some productions, Gravity Access Services also offers haptic or touch experiences in which blind audience members may enter ahead of time to hear performers describe themselves and their costumes, handle props and set elements and ask questions about the forthcoming show. This extra knowledge adds a whole other layer of understanding once the performance gets going. When multiple things evolve on stage at once, an audio describer cannot always capture everything in words.
 
Who is Jess Curtis/Gravity? On their website, a powerful sentence identifies the company’s vision and intent: “Gravity creates, produces and presents engaging body-based art that physically explores and addresses issues and ideas of substance and relevance to anyone with a body.” In recent years, such topics of interest included sensibilities around blindness both for review and insight and even for performers. Director and choreographer Jess Curtis discovered a major gap in the Bay Area performance scene’s options to hire affordable description services. Jess Curtis invited descriptive language and interactions to inform his creative work. Gravity Access Services was thus born, opening doors for blind performance enthusiasts to select from a greater variety of more affordable and socially engaged work. To learn more about the company and its productions, visit Jess Curtis/Gravity.