My Fair Lady Broadcast to the Homebound

As part of an overall project to assist theatres in making their programs accessible, The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey, through the New Jersey Theatre Alliance has funded an exciting pilot project between McCarter Theatre Center and EIES (Electronic Information and Education Services) of New Jersey to bring a live, audio-described broadcast of their spring 2004 production of My Fair Lady into the homes of 5,000 blind and visuallyimpaired people, many of whom are homebound.

An audio-tape of the performance was recorded at a live performance and then an audio-description track detailing the staging and movement was added to the performance tape, allowing listeners to visualize the performance. This unique project will bring theatre to people who are for the most part homebound and have extremely limited access to attending arts events. This is the nation’s first audio-described broadcast of a live theatrical production to be broadcast over a radio reading service.

Photo Caption Follows:Michael Cumpsty as Professor Henry Higgins escorts Kate Fry as Eliza Doolittle in the McCarter Theatre production of My Fair Lady. Photo: T. Charles Erickson. The broadcast was played on Thanksgiving Day and will be repeated on Christmas Day in dedication to George Grunbach, former board member of The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey. In addition to EIES, the New Jersey Library for the Blind and Handicapped will also be broadcasting the production to their radio subscribers.

The description is provided by Michael Mooney, Manager of Outreach and Access Programs at Paper Mill Playhouse.

“The Healthcare Foundation is thrilled to be able to make this gift to the theatres of our state,” stated Ellen Kramer-Lambert, Executive Director of the Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey. “We know that the arts enhance quality of life and contribute to the health and well-being of an individual. These programs will help open doors that have been closed for too long to the disabled population.”

The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey is an independent, permanently-endowed grantmaking organization whose goal is to alleviate the suffering of the most vulnerable and under-served members of the community.

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The Cultural Access Network is a co-sponsored project of the New Jersey Theatre Alliance and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts / Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.