Ermyn King (she/her) is a white woman of slender build who is 5 feet 7 inches tall. The photo of her face and neck at left shows her as having fair skin with rosy undertones, a long oval facial shape, hazel eyes, and thick wavy shoulder-length dark brown hair lightly streaked with gray. It is parted on the left with long diagonally curving side bangs at right. A metallic drop earring of concentric black and gold diamond outline shapes dangles by and below each cheek as she smiles. Her golden yellow cardigan top contrasts with her dark hair, also in high relief against a tan wood-paneled back wall.
King’s presences at some Center for the Arts performances may not be seen but is incredibly vital for some patrons—as she is responsible for providing audio description (AD) during select performances.
Audio description, also referred to as visual description, is a form of narration used to provide information surrounding key visual elements in performance for the benefit of blind and visually impaired audience members. The service is one of the accessibility options offered across Mason Arts venues at select performances during the season.
2024–25 Fairfax Campus Performances with Audio Description:
Unless otherwise noted, performances take place in Center for the Arts Concert Hall
- Mark Morris Dance Group, Oct 19 at 2 p.m.
- School of Theater: 110 in the Shade, Nov. 1 at 8 p.m.
- Virginia Opera: Carmen, Nov. 17 at 2 p.m.
- School of Theater: More Dogs, Nov. 22 at 8 p.m. – TheaterSpace
- School of Theater: Mason Caberet, Jan. 31 at 8 p.m. – Harris Theatre
- The Acting Company: Two Trains Running, Feb 16 at 7 p.m.
- Peking Acrobats, March 9 at 1 p.m.
- School of Theater: The Tempest, March 28 at 8 p.m. – Harris Theatre
- School of Dance: Mason Dance Gala Concert, March 29 at 8 p.m.
- Cirque Mechanics, April 5 at 2 p.m.
- Dewberry School of Music: Mason Opera, April 27 at 3 p.m.
- School of Theater: 12 Angry Jurors, May 2 at 8 p.m. – TheaterSpace
- Virginia Opera: Loving v. Virginia, May 4 at 2 p.m.
King’s audio description history flows from her background as an arts educator with a Master of Arts degree in Speech and Dramatic Arts and experience as a verbal describer and verbal description trainer in arts festival and museum contexts. In 1999, Ermyn co-founded, wrote grants to fund, organized and received training by AD pioneers, and began audio describing for Pennsylvania’s first AD service. She later consulted for VSA Pennsylvania to help stimulate statewide AD expansion and organized and co-led related AD training institutes. King has audio described more than 200 cultural events in all arts genres across the Mid-Atlantic region and Washington, D.C. metro area (including at George Mason since 2015).
She led or co-led dance/movement AD trainings at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and the Kennedy Center’s Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability. She also collaborated on writing the dance standards section of the Audio Description Coalition’s Standards for Audio Description and Code of Professional Conduct for Describers, 3rd Edition. She has received awards honoring her inclusive arts/cultural access work from Penn State University and the Sight-Loss Support Group of Central PA, Inc. King enjoys meeting and interacting with AD users (one of whom was her mother, who lived with legal blindness in the latter part of her life and attended audio-described events until she was almost 100 years old).
For a list of additional accessibility services, visit the Center for the Arts’ Accessible Options website.