Creative Access Press Release

August 26, 2002 -

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE –THE BRIDE AND CREATIVE ACCESS JOIN FORCES TO BRING THE GIVING TREE TO THE BRIDE’S STAGE WITH DEAF & HEARING ACTORS

Philadelphia, PA – The Painted Bride Art Center’s Performance in the Present Tense partners with Creative Access to present The Little Deaf Theatre’s unique performance of The Giving Tree, the timeless childhood classic by Shel Silverstein, Saturday, October 5th at 1pm. This matinee performance is $20, $10 for Bride and Creative Access members. For more information, call the Painted Bride Box Office at 215.925.9914 or visit www.paintedbride.org

The Little Theatre of the Deaf, the Children’s Theatre wing of the National Theatre of the Deaf will introduce audience members to The Giving Tree’s tender story of the gift of giving and unconditional love through American Sign Language and spoken word. Founded in 1967, The National Theatre of the Deaf (NTD) is the oldest continually producing and touring theatre company in the United States. It was the first theatre company to perform in all 50 states, has toured to all seven continents and in 32 countries. This professional acting company is made up of both Deaf and Hearing artists together as an ensemble.

The co-presentation of The Giving Tree by the Painted Bride and Creative Access marks the continued partnership of these two organizations in their commitment to providing family friendly programming for both hearing and non-hearing audiences. The Painted Bride is the proud recipient of Creative Access’ first Accessibility Beyond the Ramp Award. This award is given to persons and organizations who continuously demonstrate their dedication to erasing the communication boundaries that have historically precluded incusion of patrons and artists who are Deaf and hard of hearing.

Creative Access (CA) effects social change by using the arts to bridge the gap between the words of Deaf, hard of hearing and hearing people in the Greater Philadelphia area. CA advocates accessibility ‘beyond the ramp,’ partnering with a myriad of arts institutions to dismantle invisible barriers to communication (via sign language interpretation/captioning) while fostering excellence and diversity in the arts by bringing an historically unseen, unheard, unheralded minority culture out of the shadows and into the mainstream arts life of our communities—as audience and performer—for the benefit of all.

For confirmation, further info, or photographs please contact
Lisa Nelson, PBAC’s Communications Director, at (215) 925 9914, ext. 21, or Carol Finkle, Executive Director of Creative Access at 215-569-8311, T/Voice or Email: craccess@aol.com