- Audree Clark, a Weber State student, is creating an accessible musical theater.
- Her project aims to include deaf and blind audiences using innovative technologies.
- Clark's work, supported by her research fellowship program, focuses on community connection.
OGDEN — Audree Clark is redefining how musical theater can be experienced.
"I took (American Sign Language) for three years, and I also was doing theater in high school," Clark said. "Just learning about the language and the culture, I fell in love with it, and I wanted to make musical theater more accessible to those it's not really made for."
Clark, who was accepted into a research fellowship at Weber State University, wants to create a production to help people who are deaf and/or blind experience musical theater, but also enhance the experience of audience members who aren't deaf and blind.
"I have a firm belief that everything that we do here to enhance accessibility is just as exciting for those who don't need it," the 20-year-old student said.
Clark was hoping to have a full-length musical production by the time she was ready to graduate but did not realize how many obstacles she would have to overcome.
"I am not a part of the deaf community," she said. "It is inappropriate for me to try and write from the deaf perspective — and culturally unacceptable."
She hopes to partner with a co-writer who is deaf, or write the story from the perspective of a hearing person who interacts with people experiencing deafness —such as a friend, or a child of a deaf adult.
Her project is especially unique within the research fellows program because musical theater is an uncommon field of study for research grants.
Andrew Barratt Lewis, the director of Weber State's musical theater program, and Francesca Mintowt-Czyz, assistant professor of voice and movement, were excited by the nontraditional nature of Clark's work, which combines scientific research with the creative challenges of the performing arts.
She has had to overcome various obstacles, including incorporating sign language for deaf audiences and real-time audio description for blind guests; she has also researched creative technologies to enhance the production for all audiences.
A "sound shirt," Clark said, is a wearable device that relays musical vibrations through the body. The experience will allow deaf patrons to feel the music, similar to how a hearing person experiences sound standing next to large speakers at a concert and feeling the bass vibration. If that doesn't work out, audiences can get the same experience holding a beach ball that also picks up vibrations to convey things like a person walking across the stage.
Other unique approaches include sensory-rich designs, such as choreography and fabric movement that will help communicate rhythm or emotion, and lighting effects to visually convey aspects of the music.
For audience members who cannot see, audio narration does not have to be factual. Clark wants to incorporate musical and poetic elements in the audio narration to enhance the experience for those audiences.
"I actually showcased some audio description," Clark said. "I had written for one of our dance pieces, and I invited some audience members to shut their eyes and to just listen to the footsteps of the dancers, and listen to my audio description and then ask them, from that experience, what elements did you miss? What elements did you feel like you understood? Did you feel like you could kind of see the dance in your mind's eye, even though you weren't watching, based on what I was saying?"
Recognizing the scope of her undertaking, Clark has scaled down the project to ultimately create a high-quality, 20-minute accessible theater segment by the end of her senior year. But her motivation has not changed. It is not about the length of the bridge; it is about the value.
"I want this to be a bridge that is built between communities to help us understand each other better and appreciate each other better, rather than feeling like it's one group versus another," she said.
