Coming Soon to L.A.: A New Tool for Blind Theatergoers

Blind Angelenos are on the verge of “seeing” theater in a much more comprehensive way.

Audio description for the blind--a system in which the non-verbal components of a performance are described to playgoers over headsets--will be used at workshop performances of “PH*reaks,” the concluding show in the Mark Taper Forum New Work Festival, Friday and next Sunday at 4 p.m., and Saturday at 8 p.m., at UCLA’s MacGowan Hall.

It also will be used throughout the April 2-May 2 run of “Storm Reading” at the Tiffany Theatre. Both productions will be described by Sue Dunn, director of accessibility services for Santa Barbara-based Access Theatre, which is producing “Storm Reading.”

These two shows deal with issues related to the disabled. But the system also has been used in recent ultra-mainstream shows in Santa Barbara--productions of “The Pirates of Penzance” and “Brigadoon” and “I Do! I Do!” Santa Barbara is the beachhead for the introduction of the technique into Southern California because of the presence there of Access Theatre, which specializes in making theater that’s accessible to everyone. A pool of describers is being trained there.

Dunn, who has a blind son in the Access troupe, attends at least two rehearsals of each production. At the first, she listens without watching, simulating a blind person’s experience of the show and taking note of what might be unclear. At the second, she uses her eyes to fill in the blanks.

She prepares her script in advance, editing it in order to describe as much as possible without superseding the spoken lines. She usually describes without interpreting, but sometimes--as in a mime sequence in “Storm Reading”--she adds a layer of interpretation, as long as the director approves.

According to Dunn, the system makes sight gags, dances, sets, costumes and many other visual elements accessible to the blind. And, she added, those who sit near blind theatergoers and their sighted companions might appreciate the absence of any distracting impromptu translation.

WORKER’S COMP FOR WOLF?: If you see “Into the Woods” in Long Beach today, the last day of its run, you might assume that you’ll see a more complete show than the audience did at the first preview.

But there is one detail seen by that first audience that succeeding ones have just had to imagine:

The wolf’s penis.

The wolf, you may recall from previous experiences in the woods, salivates over the prospect of devouring Little Red Riding Hood. As part of his costume, the creature was endowed with a small phallus.

“It was like a thumb covered with a bunch of fur,” said director Glenn Casale. It wasn’t obvious from beyond the first few rows. Casale had earlier staged the show, sans the wolf phallus, in Sacramento, “but I thought maybe here we could get away with it.”

Not so fast, Casale. Several spectators complained to the ushers during the intermission of the first preview about how “vulgar” it was.

“It’s no big deal,” said the director. “I’d rather they understand the story than look at a penis.” So the disputed appendage went on the chopping block. And actor Gordon Goodman, who plays the wolf, received condolences from friends about the beast’s surgery.

MORE “COMPANY”: The reunion of the original “Company” cast that entertained a Long Beach audience in January will be re-created in three performances, on April 11 and 12, at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre in New York, again produced by Long Beach Civic Light Opera producer Barry Brown. All proceeds will benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

This time around, the reunion will be slightly more complete. Merle Louise, whose job in “Kiss of the Spider Woman” in London prevented her from being in Long Beach, is expected in New York. She’ll join Barbara Barrie, Susan Browning, George Coe, John Cunningham, Steve Elmore, Beth Howland, Dean Jones, Charles Kimbrough, Pamela Myers, Donna McKechnie, Teri Ralston and Elaine Stritch--with only the late Charles Braswell requiring a substitute.

AND THE “BAND” PLAYED ON: All proceeds from an upcoming revival of “The Boys in the Band” at the Fountain Theatre will go to Equity Fights AIDS--the first time that an entire multi-week production will serve that purpose.

The production will open on the play’s 25th anniversary, April 14, and is scheduled to run through May 9. The entire cast, crew and staff--plus playwright Mart Crowley--are waiving their usual fees. It’s all in memory of the original director Robert Moore and four of the original cast members--Frederick Combs, Keith Prentice, Robert La Tourneaux and Leonard Frey--who have died of AIDS.

Director Stephen Sachs, who was a close friend of Combs, is planning a reunion of three of the remaining original cast members and Crowley at a symposium on April 27.

A LONDON ‘MONEY’?: Broadway was going to be the next stop for David Williamson’s “Money and Friends” after its run at the Doolittle Theatre closes next Sunday. But now co-producer Fran Weissler says London looks likelier. “Rethinking and rewriting” are required, she added.

GALLO MEMORIAL: A memorial service for the late Clifford Gallo, theater critic at the Reader and assistant theater critic at the Daily News, will be held Monday at 6:30 p.m. at Second Stage, 6500 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood.