Handicap Accessibility at the Chagrin Valley Little Theatre

On Saturday my mother and I went to see the closing night of Mindy’s play, The Smell of the Kill, at the Chagrin Valley Little Theatre. We were treated to much more entertainment than we ever could have imagined. The play itself was incredible, but there was also something that happened in the audience which only a few select people were lucky enough to witness, and for those of us who saw it, we will never be the same. (I only hope I can do this story justice.)

My mother and I had seats in the last row with very little room between us and the wall of the theatre. The usher thought this space between the last row and the wall would be a good place to stick a woman who had come in a wheelchair. As the two talked, the woman in the wheelchair began to reveal how hard it is for her to get around and see plays anymore because her legs hurt so much and it is hard to make the drive. She also went on to say she was left behind at the last play she attended when the lights went out in the theatre after the play ended. The woman performing the usher duties let her know nothing bad would happen at this theatre and the drive would be worth her while. She also assured her she would be back to get her after the show so she wouldn’t be left alone again.

Before the play began the man running sound and lights needed to get around the woman in the wheelchair and head up the ladder to the control panel, which was on the other side of this woman. There was no way to get around her but to go around the rows, yet he seemed stumped until everyone in my row looked at him and said: “you have to go around.” If you are keeping score at home, this is stupid man number one.

Let me introduce you to stupid man number two. Mid-way through the play the gentleman in front of us decides to get up. He is only one seat in from the aisle, yet instead of telling the man next to him to move, he decides he is going to go around. Everyone in the back row knows this is not going to be a good idea, yet we watch him, knowing that he is going to have to turn around once he gets to the ladder. We all sit there in amazement as this man, most likely in his early sixties, squeezes his body around the ladder between the wall and our last row. Now we are all feeling sorry for the guy because he worked so hard to get around the ladder only to encounter a woman in a wheelchair blocking his way out. As he walks closer to her, I hear something that I will never forget in my life. I hear him whisper to the woman “Can I climb over you?” At this moment the four people in my row turn around in horror and watch him straddling this poor woman, face-to-face in the wheelchair with one leg over her and the other leg stuck. Finally after grabbing onto her head and her wheelchair he made it over. Take a moment to visualize what I just wrote—this man practically molested this old woman stuck in a wheelchair because he could not figure out a better way to get around her. It is scary yet true.

He came back and decided not to go back the way he came and just take another seat. What a smart guy. He actually ended up sitting in our row, and when he sat down he smiled at all of us because we could not stop staring at him in disbelief. Why he didn’t ask the man sitting next to him to move is still beyond me. Let me reiterate this man was only one seat in from the aisle yet he decided to go all the way around and commit this heinous act of stupidity. I felt so sorry for this poor woman who was already hesitant to venture out due to the pain in her legs and the fact she had been left behind in a theatre before. Apparently being left behind in a dark theatre isn’t all that bad after what happened to her at this theatre. If I were her, I would ask for some free tickets and a better seat next time.