Gideon Productions to Launch Outreach Program for Underserved Audiences

Gideon Productions is pleased to launch an Underserved Audiences Outreach Program as part of their production of Mac Rogers' Universal Robots at The Sheen Center (18 Bleecker Street), June 3-26. Gideon's Underserved Audiences Outreach Program will feature special performances interpreted for the Blind and Deaf, as well as a Family Support Matinee for parents with young children.

Family Support Matinee

Sunday, June 12 at 2pm

One of the most overlooked audience members are parents of young children. Most people can afford the ticket, but not the extra $100 in babysitting it takes to be able to see the show! Gideon has set up a special matinee performance with Teaching Artists who will take kids from ages 4-12 through theater and arts games, while their parents are in watching the performance.

Performance Interpreted for the Blind

Wednesday, June 15 at 8pm

Using D-Scriptive software and hardware - a special earbud that goes in one ear and describes the action happening on stage, when it's integral to the storytelling.

Performance Interpreted for the Deaf

Thursday, June 23 at 8pm

Featuring two certified American Sign Language interpreters acting out different roles.

UNIVERSAL ROBOTS is a science fiction epic from acclaimed playwright Mac Rogers inspired by Karel Capek's seminal 1921 play R.U.R. The production, directed byJordana Williams, will be presented at The Sheen Center (18 Bleecker Street) June 3-26 with performances Thursday through Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 2pm, and Monday at 8pm with additional performances on Wednesday, June 15 & 22 at 8pm. Tickets ($25) are available online at http://sheencenter.org or by calling OvationTix at866-811-4111.

GIDEON PRODUCTIONS crafts gripping plays that explore human grace and darkness, through the kaleidoscope of popular genre forms and other cultural touchstones. We reject the notion that thrills are cheap or that big ideas are boring. We explore what's strange about being human and what's human about being strange, using thrilling entertainment as a delivery system for challenging stories that take on religion, sexuality, politics, compulsion, popular culture, and the often strange bonds that tie people together in a rapidly changing world. We honor the time our audiences and collaborators devote to our productions and seek to deliver the utmost quality in experience and content.

THE SHEEN CENTER FOR THOUGHT & CULTURE Named after the late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, best known for his popular radio and TV ministry in the 1950s and 60s, The Sheen Center is a project of the Catholic Archdiocese of New York and showcases works that affirm the highest values of the human spirit through the performing and visual arts, lectures and exhibits. The state-of-the-art complex has a 270-seat proscenium theater equipped with five-camera high-definition Livestream capability and a multi-track recording studio with thirty-two onstage inputs; an 80-seat black box theater; four rehearsal studios; and an art gallery.