The Greer Children’s Theatre will be preforming Frozen Jr. at the Cannon Centre.
“Ironically enough it was the last show we did pre pandemic and we closed it down and we really wanted to have a second chance to do it again,” Cultural Arts Supervisor Robin Byouk said.
Cultural Arts Supervisor Robin Byouk says this show will be special for another reason too.
“On Saturday night October 21 at 7pm we will have some American Sign Language interpreters here in the theatre. We have a special section set up for them,” Byouk said.
It’s all in an effort to make performances more inclusive.
“During 2020 the Greer cultural arts council board took a hard look at what we were doing and where we wanted to go and we formed what’s called our inclusion and outreach committee,” Byouk said.
Byouk says making theatre in Greer accessible to the hearing impaired community was the first step.
“We are a community theatre that wants to do what we can to underserved populations and different communities with disabilities,” Byouk said.
Next, she hopes to bring more inclusion with the help of future performances of Finding Nemo—a show in which each role represents a different disability.
“We would like to welcome people with disabilities to come and audition for the show,” Byouk says.
And hopefully, the message will extend far beyond these performances.
“What it will do we hope is it will breed tolerance and respect for people who are different than ourselves,” Byouk said.