This one-woman show was a model for accessible performance

When blind playwright, composer and Dora Award nominated performer Vivian Chong brought her one-woman show “Blind Dates” to Market Hall with the help of Public Energy last month, she and her team prioritized creating an accessible experience for audience members. 

Chong’s show detailed her experiences with dating as a blind woman living in Toronto, and every aspect of the performance was designed with accessibility in mind. 

For the hard of hearing, live captions were projected onto a white cloud suspended above the stage. Sound effects were timed to provide auditory cues for those who couldn’t follow Chong visually. And attendees were even invited to touch samples of the set on their way into the theatre, so they could have a tactile experience of the play as well.

Everyone was invited to move around, make noise, or take a break in the Market Hall lobby as needed. The house was kept illuminated with low-level lighting so that folks could maneuver the space safely, and volunteers were on-hand to support those with mobility challenges.

Chong’s and Public Energy’s efforts were appreciated by members of Peterborough’s blind community, who were sitting front and centre for the performance.

“It feels very rewarding,” said John Morris, who came to the show with a small group of Canadian Council of the Blind (CCB) members and sat with his service dog, a yellow lab named Casey. “The venue is accessible. Everyone is helpful,” he said.

“Blind Dates” wasn’t the first accessible play Debby Haryett has attended at Market Hall, so she knew the theatre would work with her to make the experience a positive one. “They’re accommodating in what sort of seats you need. They’re accommodating to allow us to bring our guide service dogs with us,” she said.

Kate Alton, Public Energy’s new programming director, credited a partnership with Toronto’s Theatre Passe Muraille for the implementation of the show’s many accessibility features. Theatre Passe Muraille also helped Public Energy to present a relaxed performance of “No One’s Special at the Hot Dog Cart” by Charlie Petch last year. Alton said she looks forward to working with the company to bring more accessible performances to Peterborough in the future. 

“We’re very committed ourselves at Public Energy to representing as many people as we can,” Alton said. “To making our space and our performances feel open and welcoming to everyone possible.” 

Although Public Energy and Market Hall were intentionally inclusive and accommodating of disabled audience members at “Blind Dates,” Chong’s stories underscored how discrimination and ableism persist today.

In the show, Chong described one of her boyfriends, Barry, who she met at a music jam in a Danforth neighbourhood bar. She was charmed by the man’s creativity but soon learned that her new suitor “has some interesting hobbies,” she told the audience. “He collects blind people.”

Despite enjoying the company of blind people, Barry never took the time and effort to understand their individual needs. Chong would go on to encounter several men who didn’t reflect on their own blind spots around disability allyship.   

“Dating should not be an educational seminar about ableism,” she said, a sentiment that resonated deeply with audience members.

“It’s been a long time, years ago, since I dated,” commented CCB member and theatregoer Debora Thomas. But fortunately for her, she said, the men she spent time with “were very in tune” with her needs as a blind person.

Thomas said Chong’s show highlighted the reality of dating as a person with a disability. “You sort of have to teach them some things about your situation,” she said, explaining that blind folks may need to ask their date to describe what’s on their dinner plate or provide information about what’s going on around them, for example. 

“There was so much reality in it for me,” Haryett said after the play. “And I thought, oh that’s wonderful to be able to laugh at it and remember how it felt and experience it through someone else.”

“Vivian is a really tremendous performer,” said Eva Fisher, Public Energy’s managing director. “Disarming and funny, and I think that kind of really resonated… People came to us afterwards with personal stories that connected to this work.”

As Public Energy’s programmer, Alton said she’ll continue to keep an eye out for work that represents a broad range of human experience. “We can’t let go of what’s important in terms of taking care of each other and looking at the world from as many viewpoints as possible,” she said.