On January 15, the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center held a ceremony of special significance. On the same day, the manager of China’s first guide dog theater, Ajein, reached the age of service and officially retired from work, and is about to integrate into a new family and open a pleasant old age. At the same time, the three working dogs that have completed their studies, Jojo, Jinna and Enke, also embarked on their career journey on this day, and they will provide professional help to blind and autistic children in the future. At the event, guide dog users were specially invited to share their real experiences with guide dogs.
“Working Dogs into Theater” is a key initiative of Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center to promote barrier-free travel. Drama Building, located at 288 Anfu Road, is the first guide dog friendly theater in China. Since 2013, the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center has organized three large-scale promotional activities aimed at promoting the acceptance of working dogs in more theaters and public places to help create a barrier-free travel environment.
In 2013, the drama “Massage” produced by Shanghai Dramatic Art Center invited guide dog Jenny and her owner Chen Yan to watch the drama in the theater, which made Shanghai Dramatic Art Center become the first theater in China to accept guide dogs. Since then, the Centre has been taking on a social responsibility to facilitate the travel of vulnerable groups, and this year marks its tenth year of fulfilling this responsibility. In 2018, with the renovation of the drama Building, the barrier-free facilities of the theater have been comprehensively upgraded and improved: two barrier-free entrances and supporting ramps have been set up at the entrance of the theater; The public toilets of the three theaters are equipped with seated toilets with handrails; The theater also has a mother and baby room. At the beginning of its reconstruction, the Jasmine Theater also adhered to the same concept, giving priority to the construction of barrier-free access, setting up barrier-free access on the first floor, which can be reached from the entrance to the inside of the theater.
In 2021, Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center helped launch the “Guide Dog into Theatre Program” promotion activity. Wang Yinan, actor of Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center and producer of the drama “Massage”, was specially invited to shoot the first public service publicity video of “Guide Dog into Theater”. At the same time, the center hired Ai Jie, a guide dog who retired early from the Shanghai Guide Dog School, as the “honorary manager” of the theater, to publicize to the public the “three no-questions” rule that should be followed when encountering working dogs, and actively participate in the public publicity and advocacy work of guide dogs. In the same year, the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center held the graduation ceremony for guide dogs in the theater for the first time, and the “Guide Dogs into the Theater Program” was fully implemented in the center. Every Sunday afternoon, the first row of 13 seats and the first row of 19 seats in the Grand Theater and Art Theater on the first floor of Shanghai Dramatic Art Center will be the exclusive seats for visually impaired friends and guide dogs, and these shows will be clearly marked on the performance leaflet, so that the audience who care can choose other shows to purchase tickets. In 2023, three of China’s first autism assistance dogs held a graduation ceremony at the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center and officially set foot on the job, opening an important chapter in their career. By 2025, the program has been further upgraded, hoping to gather more efforts to support the smooth movement of working dogs and promote the construction of accessible theaters to new heights.
As the country’s first open theater, the drama Building on Anfu Road opens four floors of public space to the public. The lobby on the first floor of the building and the theater cafe on the second floor are free for the public to enter and exit; The “Drama Space Station” is set up on the third floor to hold theater exchange activities from time to time. On the sixth floor, the Century-old Drama Exhibition will be held for a long time, showing the development of Shanghai drama and the great spirit of dedication and struggle of Shanghai drama people. Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center has always been focusing on the vision of “let Shangyan become a container for people’s spiritual space”, from improving the accessibility of theater facilities to strengthening the skills training of employees, and effectively endowing everyone with equal rights to enter the theater, so that citizens can more easily enter the theater, enjoy the performance, feel the charm of art, and continue to contribute to the barrier-free travel of society.
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