August 7, 2017
Barrier-free theatre and accessibility shared at conference for theatre professionals and educators
Sally Bailey, professor in the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance, presented two sessions at the recent American Alliance for Theatre in Education conference in New Orleans, Louisiana.
The first — "Accessibility 101" — was a panel with four other inclusive theatre promoters, presenting the basics of how to include people with different kinds of disabilities in theatre classes and productions.
The second — "Creating Barrier-Free Theatre" — shared the process of creating plays with people who have disabilities in order to encourage more practitioners and teachers to begin including actors, designers and technicians with disabilities in theatre productions.
A special networking meeting was held for the Inclusive Theatre Special Interest Group which Bailey co-chairs, in part to begin planning next year's conference in Louisville, Kentucky, which has the theme of "Inclusion and Access."
Bailey's book "Barrier-Free Theatre: Bringing Theatre Arts to People with (Dis)Abilities" is one of the only books of its type in print.