Arizona Theatre Matters

IMPACT

🎭 ARIZONA THEATRE MATTERS — IMPACT SNAPSHOT

Creating theatre from the substance of universal access.

⭐ Who We Are

Arizona Theatre Matters (ATM) is a digital, global theatre company committed to universal access—making performance available to anyone, anywhere, regardless of sensory experience, income, location, or language. Our ensemble of Blind voice actors and Deaf sign language performers ensures that accessibility is the artistic foundation of our work.

We believe theatre is a public good. So we put it where the public actually is—online, free, and universally reachable.

⭐ Who We Serve

ATM designs every production for audiences historically excluded from traditional theatre, including:

  • Blind communities (audio theatre, Blind-led performance)
  • Deaf communities (sign-language-centered productions and captions)
  • People with limited access to in-person arts (including older adults, chronically ill people, caregivers, and rural residents)
  • Low-income households (all programming is free and online)
  • Non-English-speaking audiences (captioning available in 300+ languages)
  • People without transportation or proximity to arts institutions
  • Global viewers across 194 countries

Universal access is our artistic, ethical, and operational model.

⭐ Our Digital Reach

ATM’s online platform extends theatre far beyond physical stages:

  • 15,000+ subscribers on our YouTube channel
  • Productions reaching 20,000–30,000+ views each
  • Audiences spanning 194 countries
  • Adaptive captioning in 300+ languages
  • Streaming formats optimized for low-bandwidth and mobile users

ATM is designed to reduce barriers to participation—cost, distance, language, transportation, time, and gatekeeping—by making theatre free, digital, and accessibility-centered.

(Reach metrics are based on YouTube Analytics; language counts reflect caption availability and platform settings.)

⭐ Flagship Accessible Productions (chronological)

Our digital works demonstrate both artistic innovation and broad public impact. Examples include:

Under Milk Wood — Launched December 2023
Dylan Thomas’ masterpiece, featuring a distinguished Canadian cast led by the legendary Kenneth Welsh. ATM’s first production featuring a Deaf sign language performer—a turning point that established sign-language-forward performance as a core artistic practice.

Unyielding Voices
Launched April 2024 — now over 30,000+ views
Features a Blind voice actor and a Deaf performer in full artistic partnership.

When Churchyards Yawn
Released July 2024 — 29,595+ views
Directed by Samantha King, with audio description by Kadin Barnes.
Supported by grants from the NEA and Arizona Commission on the Arts.

Feliz Navidad
Released September 2024 — 20,652+ views
A trilingual rendition of The Night Before Christmas featuring Deaf performers and global caption access.

The Tempest
Released October 2024 — 21,826+ views
Co-directed by Ololade Adekanmi & Jeanmarie Simpson with Artistic Sign Language by Rachel Temitope.
Supported by the NEA and Arizona Commission on the Arts.

The Ferryman’s Toll — Released July 2025 | 45,000+ views
A powerful digital production where audio theatre meets ASL performance, set inside Zoom-based therapy sessions and designed for broad access. Includes audio description, sign-language-forward performance, and captions in 300+ languages. Explores themes of trauma recovery, justice, memory, and spiritual debt. Directed by Michael Rawley.
(Running time: 1h 39m.)

ATM’s productions prove that accessibility-driven theatre is not niche—it is universal.

⭐ Our Partnerships & Validation

ATM has received sustained support and recognition from federal, state, and municipal institutions:

  • National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) — multi-year funding; 2026 grant is in the pipeline
  • Arizona Commission on the Arts — multi-year funding; 2026 grant is in the pipeline
  • City of Glendale Performing Arts Grant — awarded for 2025 programming; next cycle in 2026

National accessibility partners include:

  • American Council of the Blind (ACB)
  • National Association of the Deaf (NAD)
  • AARP
  • National Council on Independent Living (NCIL)
  • Arizona State University Disability Resource Center

These partners recognize ATM as a leader in new models of inclusive, accessible theatre.

⭐ Our Innovation: Theatre Without Barriers

ATM’s model is unique:

  • Entire company operates online, eliminating geographic exclusion
  • Every production is free and permanently accessible
  • Captioning in 300+ languages, including for DeafBlind users through screen-reader compatibility
  • Audio theatre for Blind audiences at equal artistic status
  • Sign-language-forward performance integrated into storytelling
  • Digital theatre optimized for mobile, rural, and low-bandwidth users

This is not theatre with accommodations.
This is theatre built from the material of accessibility itself.

⭐ Why Digital: Universal Access Requires Universal Reach
In-person theatre can be deeply accessible—but it cannot be universal. A physical stage is limited by geography, transportation, cost, time, and capacity. Universal access requires distribution that isn’t bound by those constraints, which is why Arizona Theatre Matters is digital-first, permanently free, and designed from inception for cross-sensory access.

⭐ Our Vision

We are the world’s only universally accessible theatre—a global home where anyone, with any sensory experience, speaking any language, on any device, in any corner of the world, can experience the power of performance.

This is the next evolution of public theatre.