Before the Overture Center lobby fills, I'm sitting next to her right next door.
Before the tickets are scanned, before the audience finds their seats, a small number
of select audience members gather for an intimate event.
Some like it hot is a touring Broadway show.
But before places are called, two cast members are playing a different role.
It is a Tony award-winning costume, beautiful hand, stitched and rhinestone encrusted.
Kelly Sheehan and Brian Hunt lead the tactile tour for audience members who have difficulty seeing.
Overture Center guest services members, Tom Klubertons and Alexis O'Connell direct these efforts working with the traveling cast and crew.
They bring with them key pieces of the show, whether that's props, costumes, some set pieces, wigs,
and they allow our blind and low vision guests to pass them around while describing what they look like.
I'm legally blind, I have no vision on my left eye and limited tunnel vision on my right eye.
So getting to touch and look at stuff up front is very valuable.
Classic, but they look really decadent.
I love to see the Broadway musicals.
I can't even think of all the shows I've been through.
I think all of us have this extraordinary love for and understanding of the power that the arts has.
My favorite part about my job is getting to offer that for other people.
The last I might have for you is a pair of healed tap shoes.
Oh my gosh, Overture takes total amazing care of people with disabilities in my opinion.
It is going to get pretty loud in here.
For this free concert by the drum group Handphubians, sound-reducing headphones are a popular choice.
They protect hearing but are also valuable for people with sensory processing disorder.
They can be checked out from one of Overture's accessibility kiosks along with a number of other assistive devices.
We have our assisted listening devices here.
There are strobe effect-reducing glasses.
There are different fidget tools.
This here is one of our wobble seats.
It's primarily designed for folks that just want a little bit of extra sensory stimulation throughout a performance.
You know, you can wiggle around in your seat without having it impact the folks around you.
But we've also seen these be used by people who might have just had back surgery.
The motto here at Overture Center is extraordinary experiences for all.
And we really take that to heart.
When we say extraordinary experiences, we mean extraordinary.
And when we say for all, we mean for all.
The Arts Center has a national reputation for its inclusion efforts, especially in providing a more complete experience for a low and no-vision audience members.
One by one, they arrest the patrons of the nightclub.
My name is Heather Perkins, and I do the audio description here at Overture Center.
Male dancers throw the female dancers in a flip over their arms,
leaping and jumping in the air.
They slide the female dancers through their legs across the floor.
So by audio describing into our blind and low-vision guests' ears what other people around them are seeing,
they can then have the same reaction as everyone else that's here to enjoy the show.
You're alive!
Joe hugs Jerry.
I don't have to sit there in one room.
What?
What's going on in the scene, or who's doing what?
A set of three wooden doors are brought on stage.
Heather is brings Broadway to life.
The audio presentation just truly brings the Broadway show to life.
We want to make sure that we're providing the absolute best service that we can.
And that sort of work makes me really excited to come into this building every day.
Thank you.