24/12/2025
On the 20th and 21st days of Christmas, VOXers gave to meee: 2 AD shows, 2 ASL, and a group pic in front of the tree!
This year’s Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol with Commonwealth Shakespeare Company was historic! Beverly School for the Deaf Alumni Dorothy Sheppard joined the ASL team signing for Tiny Tim, Blind QC mentee and Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York CCAD cohort member Ash Hicks shipped up to Boston as preshow audio describer, and we hosted one of our largest tactile tours yet. The holidays are happy when it’s Accessible to Everyone. Thank you to our Deaf, Blind and disabled community members for joining us for this joyful tradition.
Video Description: full CSC cast in costume on stage singing and signing the lyric “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” as ASL team signs the song. ASL team from left to right: Michael Herschberg, a middle aged white man with short dark brown hair wears all black; Christopher Robinson, an African-American man with black hair, medium locs, and a seasonal beard wears a gray shirt and black pants; Dorothy Sheppard, a Deaf 10 year-old with light brown hair tied back wears all black; Josh Ayoub, a white man with a beard wears all black and a black cap. The audience roars with applause, both claps, cheers and waving hands. The cast gesture behind them as Dan Rodriguez the Music Director comes from backstage on the piano to centerstage to take a bow. They all take hands to take a bow, gesture towards the lights to acknowledge production crew, then gesture with open palms and waving hands to celebrate the ASL team. Cast takes another bow, then some actors as they leave sign to the audience “Merry Christmas,” “Thank you” to the ASL team, and more waving hands.
ID 1: AD team in the box seats delivering the pre-show with devices and scripts in front of them on the table. Ashley Hicks, a Black woman with Albinism with hair in a curly afro wears a gray sweater, black pants and black beret speaking into a stenomask microphone. Maria Hendricks, a brown-skinned Afroindigenous woman with curly black hair blown out wears a purple Vox shirt black pants and headset, reviewing the script on her computer.
ID 2: Ingrid O’Dell, a tall white woman with blonde hair, blue eyes and freckles wears a purple sweater and black pants chatting with Lisa Chin, a Blind Asian-American woman wears a gray coat, red knit scarf and white facemask holding a white lantern case that represents the ghost light.
ID 3: a wide shot of a nearly full front section of the Emerson Cutler Majestic Theater. The ASL team is lit in white at the house left corner, behind them is the scene when Marley visits Scrooge as represented by the drawbridge wall and scene lit in green. In view are two of the four captioning screens which read “I have none to give. Nor can I tell you what I would. My time is nearly gone. As part of my penance, I am here tonight to warn you that you have yet a chance and hope of escaping my fate.” In the left corner is Emit Solomon’s silhouette, a short nonbinary individual androgynous looking individual with short dark curly hair and a patchwork tattoo sleeve, toggling the captions at the computer in real time.
ID 4: Large group photo on stage in front of milk crates painted rainbow and stacked shape of a Christmas tree: CSC stage crew (Kate Carvalho, Kendyl Trott, Madalyn Hatton, Caterina Martins, Nate Kelleher, Mariana Jennings), actors in costume (Peter DiMaggio, David Jiles Jr., Daman Singletary, Kathy St. George, Kathryn McKellar, Jared Troilo, John Pagliarulo, Lily Segal Steven), Access Coordinator Ingrid, ASL team (Dorothy, Joshua, Sabrina, Michael, Christopher), AD team (Maria, Ash, Mikey), Voxers and Vox volunteers (Emit, Sam Gould, Olivia, Kwaku Darko, Allie Dalton, Aimee Robinson, Kristin Johnson).
