[Nfb-editors] Food for thought: Presenting our message as theatre

[Bridgit Pollpeter]

   Mike,

I'm confused as to why you feel a play can not present abstract
concepts.  Blind people are not the only minority to experience
discrimination and inequality, yet numerous plays exist dealing with
this- some very specific.

A good playwright and good actors have the ability to communicate
philosophical abstract ideas to their audience.

True, long speeches and long articles don't hold people's attention, but
I'm not sure they ever did- at least the majority of people.

Not every play will move every person, but they do have the potential to
reach a wider audience because they are using creative, artistic methods
to convey information and ideas.

Your examples seem simple to me in terms of expressing them through a
play.  Characters can be placed into scenes where that very problem is
happening.  Have a character struggle with a boss who does not want to
provide accommodations; have characters express frustration about
accessibility in life.

Of course not everyone will understand each issue personally, but it
does not mean they can't learn and grow.  I don't understand some things
other blind people struggle with, or think of as important, but it
doesn't mean I don't gain an understanding through their expression.

If a playwright creates good, three-dimensional characters, an audience
will go along for the ride.  Just as in fiction writing, characters are
what create a good story.

Of course, plays have a visual element so if performing for a blind
audience, you would want to consider this.  Either provide live
description, or construct the play in a way that adapts to the lack of
visual stimulation- it would not be difficult.  I've never had the
opportunity to see one of Jerry's plays, but I'm assuming he has
accomodated for this.

Perhaps, and I mean no offense here, it is more difficult to wrap
something like this around certain minds just like some of us can not
comprehend physics or computers.  Art of any kind is an expression.  How
does one convey meaning in a painting?  Literature?  Some of us do not
have the ability to create this kind of expression, but yet, those who
do, create beautiful art forms that resonate with people.

And by the way, at least on his part, Shakespeare was not trying to
convey morals- many of his plays were meant to satirize the time he
lived in.  It is similar to saying Saturday Night Live is making a
statement on morals.  That does play a role at times, but it is more a
comment on the world and deconstructing society to get rid of
conventions and preconceived notions.  This is what Shakespeare did.

Hey, how's that for conveying big, abstract ideas?  *smile*

Bridgit

Message: 1
Date: Thu, 5 May 2011 20:23:26 -0700
From: "Mike Freeman" <k7uij at panix.com>
To: "'Correspondence Committee Mailing List'" <nfb-editors at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [Nfb-editors] Food for Thought: Presenting Our Message
	asTheater
Message-ID: <007501cc0b9c$f7103520$e5309f60$@panix.com>
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Tina:

You may well have an idea there.  However, I confess that I'm a bit
dubious. With all due respect to Jerry whittle's plays, I'm uncertain
whether a play can convey the sort of subtle thinking and dilemmas that
we face every day
-- such as whetehr the failure of an employer to provide access
technology constitutes discrimination against a prospective employee (I
do not think this is necessarily so although current law makes it
ambiguous since it calls for "reasonable accommodations") or whether the
absence of certain things we, the blind, would find useful such as
tactily-identifiable currency  constitutes discriminatory treatment.
I'm sure a play could be designed to convey such things -- after all, we
have Shakespeare as a model of how to convey moral dilemmas -- but the
play would be too long to fit in the time allowed or the young audience
would put up with.  Braille Is Beautiful had an enviably simple message;
the sort of thinking I wish to stimulate is much more complicated.  WE
used to discuss such questions endlessly while listening to recordings
of banquet speeches, presidential reports and other touchstones of NFB
literature.  But people don't seem up for that sort of mind-stretcher
these days.

But I admire you for thinking out of the box.

Mike