interviews

Interview with Calle Bisaillon, Director and Actor in scenes from ShaxQueer:

Were there any lines that you cut or changed for accessibility or inclusivity related reasons?

Yeah, most of the line cuttings were due to accessibility and fluidity. Base Shakespeare text tends to be redundant and can be a lot of filler in that sense, so to make the text more streamlined we cut some lines and even whole paragraphs. As for inclusivity, base Shakespeare text also sometimes has content and vocabularly that is harmful to certain groups or has poor connotations in today's society—for example, we cut a whole paragraph from Mercutio where he makes a metaphor about minstrels. Although the initial definition of minstrel is a musical performer, "minstrel" (especially in America) now has the association with minstrel shows and blackface, so while this wasn't the original intention of meaning of Shakespeare, we figured it would be best to remove those lines for a modern audience.

As for changing the text, similarly, we changed a few lines for a modern audience (an "Ethiopian" to a "Noble," since the stereotype used in that imagery was a little harmful), and then we changed Romeo's pronouns from he/him to she/her and changed a few lines that were "sir" to "miss" and things like that, since we changed Romeo's gender to be a sapphic woman.

What tools did you use to help neurodivergent audience members understand the plot/enjoy the play?

In addition to streamlining the text to cut any unnecessary, confusing, or potentially offensive content, we also made sure that the actors understood the text and what they were saying in each scene and line. This allowed for proper tonal cues and emotions to come through, which helps the audience understand the emotional beats of the scene even if they struggle with understanding the words being spoken. One of my philosophies (especially as a director) is that the audience should be able to understand the scene (to an extent), even if they don't speak the language the scene is in. We also used visual indicators for who was who—the Montagues wore blue and green and mostly stayed stage right, the Capulets wore pinks and red and mostly stated stage left. These details can help to visually show relationships (who doesn't like who, who belongs to which house, etc.).

What choices did you make to help folks with physical disabilities enjoy the performance?

Unfortunately, we weren't able to get to this detail specifically. Having our performance outside was a bit of a win-lose—for example, although there were spaces for people with wheelchairs to come watch, the only seating available for others was on the stairs of the amphitheater, which wasn't as accessible or comfortable as we hoped.

When designing your production, did you encounter any issues relating to access friction? How did you work through it?

In terms of access friction, like I mentioned before, having the performance outside caused a good amount of struggle as well as good aspects for accessibility. Having it in the amphitheater allowed for a non-committal watch--if people needed or wanted to leave during the performance for any reason, they were free to. But there were distractions, like cars and other sounds and elements of being outdoors and in public, and we didn't have proper seating besides the stairs and some shallow foldable seats.

Interview with Maria Zambon, director and actor of scenes from ADHD Accessible A Midsummer Night's Dream:

Were there any lines that you cut for accessibility or inclusivity related reasons? If so, explain?

No I did not have to cut any lines for accessibility or inclusivity because my performance was already short.

Were there any lines that you changed for accessibility or inclusivity related reasons? If so, explain?

No I did not change any lines for accessibility or inclusivity.

What tools did you use to help neurodivergent audience members understand the plot/enjoy the play? (think as broadly as possible; ADHD, autism, anxiety, audio/visual processing, sensory needs, etc.)

I kept my performance short and we gave descriptions of the scene in the program for the audience. I tried to speak up and try to be clear and slow as possible

What choices did you make to help folks with physical disabilities enjoy the performance?

I’m not sure

When designing your production, did you encounter any issues relating to access friction? How did you work through it?

I don’t believe I encountered any access friction issues.