For visually impaired arts lovers, theater-going can be an experience that leaves them playing catch-up, always bending over to their neighbors to find out what they just missed. Why is the audience laughing? What was that loud thump?

A new system at Penn State's theaters this season could fix that by ensuring that people with sight loss won't miss a piece of the action.

The Center for the Performing Arts, the School of Theatre and other community performing arts groups are now providing an audio description service called View Via Headphones for select performances.

With a synopsis, character list and other information close at hand, a trained audio describer watches the show from the back of the theater and explains what's happening on stage. The describers use a transmitter to broadcast their remarks to equipped audience members, who hear the commentary through a small ear bud receiver.

The describers — a team of 10 women and one man — are encouraged to articulate stage action but avoid speaking over any of the actors' lines, said Tracy Noll, sales director for the center.

Helen Manfull, professor emeritus of theatre arts, successfully auditioned to join the team this year. She participated in an intensive three-day training session, where she learned to focus on putting into words the purely visual elements and to avoid sprinkling editorial comments into her descriptions.

"The single most important thing is to keep our own opinions out of it," Manfull said. "We are being the eyes for these people who have sight loss."

She gave an example of a smoke-filled setting on stage, noting how people were, at first, tempted to say it looked like a smoky bar or a dream-like atmosphere.

Manfull said, a more neutral description such as, "the lights convey a sense of smokiness" would be better for the audience members.

Penn State is only the second performing arts location in the state to offer this kind of program, and its presence here is largely due to the efforts of Rana Arnold, executive director of the Sight-Loss Support Group of Central Pa., Noll said.

Arnold, who has severe myopia, first learned about audio description several years ago at a conference.

"It changed so much her perception of what she was experiencing and she was keen to get this service here," Manfull said.

The audio description service on campus is provided at no cost to the patron, thanks to a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.

But recently, more contributions added another incentive for visually impaired arts lovers to attend Penn State shows.

Central Pennsylvania Eye Associates was one of four groups who responded to a mailing from the center inviting eye care professionals to sponsor tickets for people who reserve a View Via Headphones receiver, said a representative from the practice.

The eye doctors have subsidized a limited amount of $10 discounts on seats for at least four upcoming shows in Eisenhower Auditorium.

If such programs thrive, future developments could make theater-going an even fuller experience for the disabled.

Pending the appropriate funding, the center wishes to install a system that combines the new verbal description service with basic audio amplification for patrons who are both visually and hearing impaired, Noll said.

For instance, headsets could be equipped to broadcast a series of three channels, which would offer either aid in just one ear or both services together.

Upcoming performances that will offer audio description and discounted tickets include the musical Show Boat Jan. 17 and the opera Carmen Feb. 1. Both shows begin at 7:30 p.m. in Eisenhower Auditorium.