Hey everyone,

Does anyone know of a play that has a blind female part? I have a friend that wants to start working with our community theatre but she is blind. She has a beautiful soprano voice and I think she would be a great asset. She is hesitant to join because she thinks no one would cast her.

Thanks

Renea

The two obvious ones I can think of are Miracle Worker and Wait Until Dark.

She could also probably do chorus parts in certain musical. With a show like Music Man or Oklahoma there is no reason one of the towns people couldn't be blind.

"Wait Until Dark" -- female lead is blind, but is usually played by a sighted actress. I would tell your friend, however, not to restrict herself to "blind" roles, especially if she has little or no theater experience. Directors of "Wait Until Dark" are looking for a GOOD actress, not a blind one. And if she hasn't proven herself in smaller roles first, a director will be reluctant to take a chance on her for a lead. She needs to get her feet wet -- that means go to auditions and see what happens. I'd suggest she contact the theater ahead of time to get a copy of the script to prepare for any audition. You didn't say whether she's completely blind or if she has some limited sight, but she'd need to prove that she can handle the work, especially memorizing lines. I should think her ability to work from a script would be the biggest question in a director's mind -- it shouldn't matter how she does it, whether it's working with a partner or whatever, but if she can learn her lines, has talent, and is right for a part, her lack of sight shouldn't preclude her from being cast.

We work with an actress with profound hearing loss -- I don't know how she does it, but she's got one of the most gorgeous singing voices I've ever heard and is an extremely talented comedic actress. She reads lips and when she's singing, she can feel the drum beats to keep time, but the only other thing I can figure is that she has perfect pitch and can at least hear herself to some small extent (she does wear some pretty powerful hearing aids). Her handicap doesn't hold her back at all!

Hi Renea,

We have a play in our catalog called 'Fate' (4m, 5f) in which one female part portrays a blind character.

Synopsis

When the warped minds of two familes being joined in marriage intertwine, the results are a devastating mix of incest, lies, bribery, fraud and adultery. Left to themselves the four flawed relationships in the two familes must ultimately lead to their self-destruction. Only fate can take a hand in the proceedings to change the outcome for two of the characters.

The play, written by James Johnson (a young new playwright) is a very powerful and emotional study of relationships and contains strong language & content.

You can find further details about it on our website at ...

http://www.playsandmusicals.co.uk - www.playsandmusicals.co.uk

... under 'Plays', 'Three Act', 'Drama' and you can download a preview pdf file to read most of the play prior to purchasing copies of the script if required.

best regards

David
Sales Team