The following information came from Perkins School for the Blind:
Please come to the exciting live theater productions with audio description during the remainder of the 2018-2019 theater season.
Preshow description of sets and costumes for performances at all locations generally begins 60 minutes prior to curtain (unless otherwise noted). Please arrive early to allow time to get headsets, programs and be seated.
The following audio described performances will be at the designated theatres listed below:
American Repertory Theater
64 Brattle Street, Harvard Square, Cambridge
617-547-8300
www.americanrepertorytheater.org
To purchase tickets for these performances, email boxoffice@amrep.org
Barber Shop Chronicles
Audio Described: Friday, December 21 at 7:30 PM and Saturday, December 22 at 2:00 PM
Newsroom and political platform—for generations, barber shops have been places where African men gather to discuss the world. Inua Ellams’ new play traces the global ties between these spaces where the banter can be barbed and the truth is always telling. U.S. premiere.
Othello
Audio Described: Saturday, February 2 at 2:00 PM and Friday, February 8 at 7:30 PM
Those who praised Othello for his military successes now reject his marriage to Desdemona. The newlyweds are determined to overcome this resentment, but Othello’s work in Cyprus draws them into the web of his lieutenant Iago, whose jealousy knows no bounds.
Endlings
Audio Described: Friday, March 15 at 7:30 PM and Saturday, March 16 at 2:00 PM
On the Korean island of Man-Jae, three elderly women spend their dying days diving into the ocean and harvesting seafood with rusty knives. They are “haenyeos”—sea women—and they have no heirs to their millennium-old tradition. Endlings follows these women as they go beneath the waves and reach beyond the shores of their tiny island.
Broadway Across America, Boston Opera House
539 Washington Street, Boston, MA
www.boston.broadway.com/
For tickets: call 617-259-3448, or email MDoyle@bostonoperahouse.com
Tickets start at $45
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Audio Described: Sunday, January 13, 2019 at 1:00 PM
Roald Dahl’s treasured tale is the perfect recipe for a delectable treat with songs from the original film, including “Pure Imagination,” “The Candy Man” and “I’ve Got a Golden Ticket,”alongside a toe-tapping and ear-tickling new score from the songwriters of Hairspray. Willy Wonka is opening his marvelous and mysterious chocolate factory … to a lucky few including Charlie Bucket. He and four other golden ticket winners will embark on a mesmerizing joyride through a world of pure imagination.
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Audio Described: Sunday, February 3, 2019, at 1:00 PM
Long before she was Carole King, chart-topping music legend, she was Carol Klein, Brooklyn girl with passion and chutzpah. Beautiful tells the inspiring true story of King’s remarkable rise to stardom, from being part of a hit songwriting team with her husband Gerry Goffin, to becoming one of the most successful solo acts in popular music history.
A Bronx Tale
Audio Described: Sunday, April 7, 2019, at 1:00 PM
A Bronx Tale is a streetwise musical that takes you to the stoops of the Bronx in the 1960s—where a young man is caught between the father he loves and the mob boss he’d love to be. With a doo-wop score, A Bronx Tale is a story about respect, loyalty, love, and above all else, family.
Miss Saigon
Audio Described: Sunday, June 16, at 1:00 PM
Experience the acclaimed new production of the legendary musical Miss Saigon. This is the epic story of a young Vietnamese woman named Kim. In a bar run by a notorious character called The Engineer, Kim meets an American G.I. That encounter will change their lives forever.
Dear Evan Hansen
Audio Described: Sunday, July 14, at 1:00 PM
A letter that was never meant to be seen, a lie that was never meant to be told, a life he never dreamed he could have. Evan Hansen is about to get the one thing he’s always wanted: a chance to finally fit in.
Hello, Dolly!
Audio Described: Sunday, August 18, at 1:00 PM
Broadway legend Betty Buckley stars in Hello, Dolly! Winner of four Tony Awards, including Best Musical Revival, director Jerry Zaks’ “gorgeous” new production is “making people crazy happy!” This Hello, Dolly! pays tribute to the original work of legendary director/choreographer Gower Champion—hailed then and now as one of the greatest stagings in musical theater history.
Emerson/Paramount Center
559 Washington Street, Boston, MA
www.emersonparamount.org
617-824-8400
An Inspector Calls
Audio Described: Saturday, March 23, 2:00 PM at Cutler Majestic Theater, 219 Tremont Street
This award-winning production of JB Priestley’s classic thriller, An Inspector Calls, now lands in Boston. When Inspector Goole arrives unexpectedly at the prosperous Birling family home, their peaceful dinner party is shattered by his investigations into the death of a young working-class woman. His startling revelations shake the very foundations of their lives and challenge audiences to question their own consciences.
American Moor
Audio Described: Saturday, April 20, 2:00 PM at Robert J Orchard Main Stage, 559 Washington Street
As an African-American actor auditions for Othello, he is met with 400 years of prejudice and racism as he negotiates with a young, white director who presumes to understand how to portray the character. It challenges the capacity of theatre asking the question “who gets to perform Shakespeare?”
Hanover Theater for the Performing Arts
2 Southbridge Street, Worcester, MA
www.thehanovertheatre.org
For tickets call 877-571-7469, or email info@thehanovertheater.com
Description provided by Audio Journal
A Christmas Carol
Audio Described: Sunday, December 23 at 1:00 PM
A Christmas Carol is a classic, featuring the Mighty Wurlitzer Organ.
Finding Neverland
Audio Described: Sunday, January 6, 2019 at 1:00 PM
This is the story behind one of the world’s most beloved characters: Peter Pan. Playwright J.M. Barrie struggles to find inspiration until he meets four brothers and their beautiful widowed mother.
The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical
Audio Described: Sunday, February 3, 2019 at 1:00 PM
As the son of Poseidon, Percy Jackson has newly discovered powers he can’t control, has monsters on his trail and is on an epic quest to find Zeus’s lightning bolt to prevent a war between the gods.
On Your Feet!
Audio Described: Sunday, March 31 at 1:00 PM
Emilio and Gloria Estefan came to America and broke through all barriers to the very top of the pop music world. But just when they thought they had it all, they almost lost everything.
Waitress
Audio Described: Sunday, May 26 at 1:00 PM
Waitress tells the story of Jenna, a waitress and expert pie maker. Jenna dreams of a way out of her small town and loveless marriage. A baking contest in a nearby county and the town’s new doctor may offer her a chance at a fresh start.
Huntington Theatre Company
264 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA
www.huntingtontheatre.org
617-273-1558
Tickets: Contact Meg O’Brien at MObrien@huntingtontheatre.org
Tickets are $20 for each patron, and one additional guest.
A Doll’s House, Part 2
Audio Described: Thursday, January 24 at 10:00 AM (Student Matinee) and Saturday, January 26 at 2:00 PM
Nora famously slammed the door on her marriage, leaving her husband and children behind in Ibsen’s groundbreaking classic. But, what happened to the iconic heroine next? This audacious sequel imagines her 15 years later as a successful writer and independent woman, urgently seeking to finalize her divorce.
Romeo and Juliet
Audio Described: Thursday, March 14 at 10:00 AM (Student Matinee) and Saturday, March 16 at 2:00 PM
Impassioned young lovers are caught between the violence and prejudices of their feuding families in Shakespeare’s most famous and enduring love story.
Indecent
Audio Described: Saturday, May 11 at 2:00 PM
Pulitzer Prize winner Paula Vogel’s captivating new play with music took Broadway by storm last year and now Rebecca Taichman recreates her Tony Award-winning production for Boston audiences. Inspired by the true story of Sholem Asch’s controversial play God of Vengeance and the passionate artists who risked their lives to perform it, this riveting and richly theatrical backstage drama is a fierce indictment of censorship and a joyful celebration of art and love.
Audio Described: Saturday, June 22 at 2:00 PM at the South End / Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA 527 Tremont Street, Boston MA 02116
Yerma, a young wife, wants nothing more than to have a child and become a devoted mother. As she watches her friends start their families, she begins to question her own value as a woman. Her desperate desire turns into an all-consuming obsession with devastating consequences.
Moonbox Production at the Boston Center for the Arts (BCA)
www.moonboxproductions.org
(617) 864-0841
Caroline, or Change
Audio Described: April 27, 2:00 PM and Thursday, May 9 at 7:30 PM at the Wimberly Theatre in the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA, 527 Tremont Street, South End
Caroline, or Change is a breathtaking, original, musical that runs the gamut from gospel to Motown to classical to Jewish folk and klezmer. A black woman works as a maid for a Jewish family in 1963 Louisiana, where she is allowed to keep the change she finds while doing laundry. This becomes a point of pride and crisis for the maid, who cannot cope with greater changes in her life and in the growing civil rights movement.
Open Door Theater
The Dragonfly Theater – R.J. Grey Jr. High School
16 Charter Rd, Acton, MA
www.opendoortheater.org
978-337-7986
The Little Mermaid
Audio Described: Saturday, April 6, 2019 at 7:30 PM
Venture under the sea where Ariel, a free-spirited mermaid princess, longs to be part of the human world. After bravely striking a bargain with Ursula, a sneaky sea witch, Ariel embarks on the adventure of a lifetime. With Flounder and Sebastian at her side, Ariel will need all of her courage and determination to make things right in both her worlds.
New Repertory Theatre – Mosesian Center for the Arts
321 Arsenal Street, Watertown, MA
www.newrep.org
617-923-8487
tickets@newrep.org
1776
Audio Described: Friday, December 14 at 8:00 PM and Sunday, December 16 at 2:00 PM
In this Tony Award-winning musical, Massachusetts delegate John Adams must convince a divided Continental Congress to forge a new and independent nation. With help from his colleagues Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, Adams just might make history! Experience the story of the founding of the United States with this exciting, inclusive reimagining of this classic musical.
Wheelock Family Theatre
180 The Riverway, Boston
www.wheelockfamilytheatre.org
617-879-2300
For tickets: 617-353-3001, or WFTtix@bu.edu
Ragtime
Audio described: Sunday, February 10, 2019 at 2:00 PM and Friday, February 15 at 7:30 PM
Based on the book by E.L. Doctorow. Directed by Nick Vargas. A kaleidoscopic journey through the turn of the 20th century. The show is recommended for ages 10 and up.
James And The Giant Peach
Audio Described: Sunday, May 5 at 2:00 PM and Friday, May 10 at 7:30 PM
This adaptation of Dahl’s classic story by the musical team behind Dear Evan Hansen, gives us delicious rhymes and delightful music that triple the cherished whimsy of the original. The show is recommended for ages 6 and up.
This publication is also available in braille upon request by contacting the Perkins Library at 617-972-7240 or 1-800-852-3133 or by email at Library@Perkins.org.