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Enhancing “Las Hermanas Padilla”

Posted by DCA Theater on March 16, 2012 in January - July 2012 Season, Las Hermanas Padilla

Submitted by Bridget Dougherty Melton, Ticketing and Patron Services Manager for DCA Theater

Last week, Chicago Fusion Theater hosted an “enhanced” performance of Las Hermanas Padilla for persons who are blind or have low vision.  This was a new thing for both Chicago Fusion and DCA Theater, as we have not had an audio described performance in a few years.  The event was a lot of fun because it went beyond the normal audio description to include some live music and a touch tour, and instead of using headsets, the whole audience was in on the audio description.

The afternoon began with a welcome by Chicago Fusion Theatre Managing Director (and actress playing Carmen) Natalie DiCristofano, who was joined on stage by Jeanne T. Arrigo and Erica Cruz Hernandez, who play Lucha and Chave respectively.

In the show, Erica’s character has one too many drinks and serenades the sisters-in-law with “Y Andale,” a Mexican drinking song. Check out legendary singer Linda Ronstadt performing the song, with a little commentary:

Erica and Jeanne performed the song for everyone, and gave a short translation of the lyrics. Then Jeanne took center stage, performing a song she wrote entitled “The Woman I Was,” which, while not featured in the production, greatly captures the feelings and tone of Las Hermanas Padilla.

The touch tour began next, with a short introduction by scenic designer Noël Dominique.

Everyone eagerly joined her on stage for a walk-through – she shared fun facts about the set, like how she used joint compound to create the stucco effect on the house, and that some of the pieces that gave a Mexican flair to the space actually came from director Juan Casteñeda’s home, notably the hanging chili pepper string and embroidered table cloth. The same set is used for the entire show, with small adjustments to furniture placements and changing projections, so the audience was able to spend a lot of time getting familiar with it. 

Afterwards, director Juan Casteñeda and dramaturg Jessica Kadish took the stage to give a brief introduction to the projections and how the audio description would work. 

We won’t give anything away here, but it was neat to hear them explain certain movement themes that are in the play, and how they are associated with certain sounds or lights, so that the audience could know in advance what was happening, without any audio description. Headsets are the norm for audio described performances, because it allows full and rich descriptions to take place in real time during the performance without being audible to those that aren’t participating. Because we were not using headsets for this performance, audio description was available to everyone in the theater.  Jessica actually sat at the back of the theater on an overhead microphone, and read out scene transitions and projection titles. It was localized to just during scene transitions, so that the actors and mood were not interrupted. It was a lot like the narration one hears at a staged reading or workshop, where the stage manager is filling in gaps with stage directions. It was really neat, kind of like getting a behind the scene’s glimpse into what the playwright expected of the actresses during scene transitions when they were still in character. Tony Meneses, the playwright, actually wrote in a title for each scene, which Liviu Pasare used in his projections, which really helped Jessica easily set the tone for each scene with minimal wording – i.e. “Where Carmen Padilla Dances With Bottles and Cigarettes.” 

Overall, an awesome time and one that we hope to be able to repeat in the future with other companies.