Theater is one of my passions, and despite my hearing loss, (and because I live in New York City) I manage to see a lot of it. Captions are a big help! Special open captioned (OC) performances through Theatre Development Fund (TDF)—where the captions are displayed on a screen to one side of the stage—are wonderful, and getting more plentiful. At non-OC performances I use GalaPro which displays captioning through an app on my iPhone. Both have enabled me to continue to enjoy theater, even as I find it more difficult to follow the dialogue without assistance.
While I am incredibly grateful for these types of captioning, looking up and down at my smartphone or to the side of the stage each time I miss a few words is not always ideal. This weekend, I experienced something new—captions incorporated directly into the design of the set. It was amazing!
Lights! Camera! Accessibility!
The show was produced by Theater Breaking Through Barriers (TBTB), the only professional Off-Broadway theater organization dedicated to advancing artists and developing audiences of people with disabilities. Their mission is to “alter the misperceptions surrounding disability by proving, once and for all, that disability does not affect the quality or integrity of our art or artists.” They aspire to make each production as accessible as possible.
At the show I saw, accessibility began even before the play did. As we entered the theater and took our seats, captions described the ambient sounds as “Playground sounds” which helped me put meaning to the general background buzz. Before the actors appeared on stage, we heard only their voices. Each described their physical appearance and the features of the set design through two off-stage conversations. This not only made the show accessibile for people who are blind, but also provided insight into each character’s disposition.
With other captioning methods, I must often choose whether to look at the stage or the captions. Not here, because they were one and the same. Rather than appearing on a separate screen, the captions were incorporated directly into the set design for easy viewing. The captions bounced around the differently shaped red tiles following the actors as they moved about the stage. I found the captions easy to read and well-timed with the dialogue.
I wish all productions were like this.
Can this Work for More Complex Sets?
Skeptics might argue that it is easy to add on-stage captions to a show with a simple living room set, but wonder if this would work with a more complex design? I say yes! It is just a matter of planning. Any show—no matter the complexity of the staging, scenery, or set design—can be accessible, as long as this requirement is included from the start. Band-aiding accessibility on after-the-fact will always be a challenge.
So what do you think, theater producers? Will building accessibility into the stage design be the new standard for accessible theater? I sure hope so.
Readers, would you enjoy captions built into the set itself?
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Just when I think there are no more options for captioning a new one pops up. Thank goodness. That our eyes are with the action and not away from it is huge. Do you prefer GalaPro to the devices offered by the theater? I’ve got GalaPro installed but haven’t used it yet. When I plan to, I’m taking along a mobile power station so I don’t need to worry about losing power.
I like GalaPro but the captions aren’t always perfectly synched. It is certainly better than nothing and doesn’t seem to impact my battery life too much. Let me know what you think when you try it. Thanks for your comment.
My local theater, People’s Light in Malvern, PA [peopleslight.org], offers caption glasses through a partnership with Temple University. According to their site the glasses, “display a synchronized transcript of the play’s dialogue and sound directly onto the lenses.”
https://www.peopleslight.org/visit/accessibility/smart-caption-glasses/
They also offer open captioned performances and ASL interpretation but as someone with hearing loss and no knowledge of ASL, I much prefer the glasses because as you say there is no need to look away from the stage,
This sounds like another interesting option. I am glad that it has worked for you. Thanks for sharing the information.
Weird timing for this blog as I recently experienced a humiliating experience at a local professional theatre in Chicago. It is the only one with looping (which really didn’t make a difference for me), but I was excited to try the speech-to-text app on my new phone. I was familiar with the songs, but wanted some backup for the dialogue. I notified the staff to avoid a Patty LuPone situation and they were fine with with it, but low and behold some woman sitting three seats down was inconvenienced by the light! I switched to the dark mode for act 2, but the damage was done. I will be contacting the theatre, but for Pete’s sake already. While tech is helping us make baby steps, the bigger challenge is the continued lack of compassion from hearing people. (Thanks for letting me rant.)
That is frustrating! Whenever I use GalaPro I try to alert the folks next to me and directly behind me so they aren’t surprised when I have my phone out during the show. Education is an ongoing process as you know. Thank your for sharing your experiences.
Thank you for pointing me toward both GalaPro and TBTB! I will be checking out both of them.
Excellent! I hope you find them helpful! Thank you for your comment.
I subscribe to The Greater Boston Stage Co. in Stoneham MA. they very kindly give n me a copy of the script to follow along. It is very helpful but of course I miss some of the action onstage. I also have to use a tiny flashlight at times. I’m afraid that the light and y page turning may be bothersome to some people, In fact a woman yelled at me the ususal refrain of “don’tcha have a Hearing Aid”?? MY friend defended me and I tok it from wence it came–n ignorant person. Captioning would be so helpful, I hope they eventually can afford to have it.
Captioning is terrific! Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Good news! The options our future generations will have for “all things” is bright. If we can build The James Webb Space Telescope. we can do anything.
The future is bright! Thanks for your comment.
I will second Susan Berger’s comment. Another innovative way to use captions. So good to read about this. I would be back in movie or live theater in a heartbeat if captioning were incorporated like they were as you described at this TBTB theater. Captions are so helpful for those of us who have beginning hearing loss and have other auditory processing issues (in my case, speaking English as a second language.)
Absolutely! Thank you for sharing your thoughts as well.
This is so encouraging. After too many disappointing experiences, I’ve avoided live performances of any kind in recent years. Boston area. I have used the movie theater glasses, but do find them heavy on top of my regular glasses.
Let’s hope it catches on! Thanks for sharing your experiences.
i used Gala Pro in Washington DC a few weekends ago. Worked great but usher ask me to turn my phone off until i explained.
More training for staff is certainly needed. Glad you were able to explain and enjoy using it. Thanks for your comment.
This is such an inspiring article! It’s wonderful to see organizations like Theater Breaking Through Barriers (TBTB) making theater accessible to everyone, by incorporating captions into the set design. I am thrilled to see this new standard in accessible theater, and I hope that it becomes a widespread practice.
I hope so too! Thank you for your comment.