Kevin’s Greetings From Hong Kong!

Kevin Dyels is a poster child

Greetings from a Double bed hotel room in Hong Kong. It’s been exactly a week since my arrival here and what a week it’s been.

Workshops in Hong Kong

My forward thinking host is the Director of the Arts with the Disabled Association, Hong Kong (ADAHK), Janet Tam. Janet and her crack team of enthusiastic staff members put together a packed 10 day itinerary. The goal: To help bring Performing Arts Interpreting to the theaters and theatergoers of Hong Kong.

I arrived on Thursday night where I was met by Cymie, a veteran staff member for ADAHK. She gave me a schedule and general information packet in the form of a book of 18 pages; complete with a table of contents. I was dropped at my hotel where I promptly fell asleep at 10pm. I woke up rested and ready to work until I glanced at my watch to find it was 2am. Drat, jet lag!

Participants have fun in a Quest workshop in Hong Kong

I started on Saturday morning with a workshop for HK sign language interpreters. The workshop is split over two weekends with a total instruction time of 19 hours. I conduct it in Spoken English and have a couple of great English/Cantonese interpreters working with me.

The participants (approx 10) seem to be enjoying themselves while learning about the unique art of theatrical interpreting. This upcoming weekend is a chance for them to practice what they’ve learned by dissecting text for translation and then interpreting it. They’ll be speaking in Cantonese of course – so the spoken language interpreters will be doing some “theatrical interpreting” themselves.

Noodles and Tea

Yum...the food!

This past week I had several additional seminars. The first on Tuesday was to solicit feedback for an improvisational group called Playback Theater. They produce performances that are completely accessible to people with disabilities. Playback takes real stories from live audience members and produces a short 10 minute improvisation exploring tenets of the story using music, fabric, dance, poetry, and Sand painting (cool!).  Playback Theater performances are have shadow interpreters on stage for deaf patrons and audio description for blind patrons. Typically their performances attract a 15% attendance of people with disabilities in the audience.

Fun with Fabric Hong Kong style

Yesterday Janet and I held a seminar promoting accessibility in the arts for LCSD government employees. Since the government mounts or hires performances for the public, we were talking to the folks responsible for most of the professional and semi professional theater in Hong Kong.  We spoke of the Americans with Disabilities Act in the US. We explored why the law exists and the positive response of the inclusion of deaf patrons in theater. The crowd was attentive and their questions showed the substantive mental paradigm shift that this endeavor would require of them. It was only a three hour seminar, but I think it opened some eyes to the importance of inviting the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community to great theater.

Kevin jokes around with new friends from Hong Kong

Today (Friday) I will have an open forum with members of the deaf community. I expect it to be a lively discussion on the importance of deaf involvement in all aspects of the theater experience.

I’ve had a couple days off to complete my requisite massage, retail therapy, and sight seeing. A 50 minute foot massage from a therapist literally sent me biting my shirt in pain. A couple days later I headed to the former Portuguese peninsula of Macau. Erroneously called an island, the 5 mile square Macau is connected to mainland China and is just a one hour ferry ride from HK. On my tour, the guide expressed the change in tourism in Macau since the invasion of the casino. In both of 2008 and 2009 there were 6 million visitors to Macau. In 2010 there were 9 million and this year Macau has seen 25 million visitors to date. Incredible.

Wynn: The world's largest casino here in Macau

This experience continues to be educational and invigorating. Without a similar ADA law, it will be a bit more difficult to change some old habits here. But with organizations like ADAHK and the forward thinking of some great government employees, Hong Kong will be ahead of the game in learning what many Americans already know: that including people with disabilities in the theater experience is enriching, dignifying, breathtaking, and long overdue.

The famous skyline and light show of Hong Kong Harbor at night

Thank you Quest and thank you Hong Kong!