Stage Theaters..accessible to audience with hearing loss?

kokonut

kokonut

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I know that more and more movie theaters are providing captioned films but what about stage theater? There's a 1 in 10 chance that somebody in the audience has a hearing loss and may not understand fully what's being said. How affordable is for stage theaters to have captioned or even interpreters for a few hours a time if you have a big audience to begin with?

If you were that actor on a stage and have concerns about potential problems on the accessibility issue for those in the audience with hearing loss what would you do? :cool2:
 
Move to Seattle. They got captioned theatres and live performances there.

Really... just ask the company to get real-time captioning for $50-$100 an hour. Increase ticket price by $1 to pay off the cost of 2-3 hours worth of captioning.
 
don't like cities....

Yes, it would be obvious, correct, to notify the company if you're involved in a play and understand these concerns. Sitting back and do nothing is the worse thing one can do. Though I think this may be more of a problem in a smaller population area and, or course, there are so many captioners out there. Unless I'm thinking CART.
 
economical & practical solution - ask the manager to have one day or so exclusively for deaf patrons.
 
I think there was a thread about that issue. Someone, not a regular ADer, brought up that issue and it got ugly, I think.
 
shel90 said:
I think there was a thread about that issue. Someone, not a regular ADer, brought up that issue and it got ugly, I think.
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Over stage theater accessibility issues for audience with hearing loss?
 
Why? Who would disagree that communication access shouldn't be done when we have the technology to do so? That's whack.
 
kokonut said:
Over stage theater accessibility issues for audience with hearing loss?
Click to expand...

I cant remember what exactly it was about but it was related to that. I will have to find it.
 
I remember when I would go on field trips to the orchestra in Ottawa in elementary school. There was a wireless system in the theatre for deaf people with FM systems. I was told that I had to use it. It sucked. I hated my FM systems. That is why I refuse to wear one.
 
I wonder if there are people out there in the world of stage acting (e.g. directors, actors, stage hands, etc) know about these accessibility issues but don't say anything about it? The tickets are expensive enough as it is. Good lord there are enough of them out there to know better if they don't do anything about it. Shame on them!

LOL

seriously...
 
kokonut said:
I know that more and more movie theaters are providing captioned films but what about stage theater? There's a 1 in 10 chance that somebody in the audience has a hearing loss and may not understand fully what's being said. How affordable is for stage theaters to have captioned or even interpreters for a few hours a time if you have a big audience to begin with?

If you were that actor on a stage and have concerns about potential problems on the accessibility issue for those in the audience with hearing loss what would you do? :cool2:
Click to expand...

All one need to do is contact the theatre and a terp will be provided for the stage production. It is done all the time. Many professional theatres have also begun doing shadowed productions on specific dates for the deaf/hoh population.:cool2:
 
kokonut said:
I wonder if there are people out there in the world of stage acting (e.g. directors, actors, stage hands, etc) know about these accessibility issues but don't say anything about it? The tickets are expensive enough as it is. Good lord there are enough of them out there to know better if they don't do anything about it. Shame on them!

LOL

seriously...
Click to expand...

They know about it, and they, for the large part, deal with it effectively. They are much more sensitive to these issues than the general business world.

Perhaps you should research these topics a bit more before you start shaming people. And I still find it ironic that you would presume to complain about accessability when you fail to provide written transcripts of audio on a deaf forum. Responsibility begins with you.

BTW, the productions you are talking about are called "live productions" or "live theatre", not "stage theater".
 
kokonut said:
Why? Who would disagree that communication access shouldn't be done when we have the technology to do so? That's whack.
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Cause someone's gotta foot the bill and nobody wants to do it.

Certain (big) places do provide the service at no additional cost to the consumer like the American Airlines Arena down here in Miami. I have a friend who wanted to go take his daughter to see a Disney on Ice show and all he had to do was contact their offices and it would be all setup for an interpreter to be present.

off topic: I'd wanted to take my girlfriend but the tickets are so damn expensive for the Disney shows!
 
Jiro said:
economical & practical solution - ask the manager to have one day or so exclusively for deaf patrons.
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That's a great idea.

Do research. Find out if there are deaf clubs or deaf social gatherings in the area. Work with them and find out what they want. If the demand is high enough, then an one-day event can be done.
 
VamPyroX said:
That's a great idea.

Do research. Find out if there are deaf clubs or deaf social gatherings in the area. Work with them and find out what they want. If the demand is high enough, then an one-day event can be done.
Click to expand...

That's why shadowed productions have gained in popularity.
 
I had gone to live theatres in New Mexico. They provided interpreters on stage to tell us what the actors and actresses are saying. I love the intepreters the way they interpreted and moved almost close to the actors. I don't remember seeing any captioned for the plays, so I don't know. I don't like FM systems and never use them. Yeah, I have seen some like those. Weird. :cool2:
 
I have gone to plays hosted by a small theatre company. Terps were always provided and like Bebonang, I loved watching the ASL expressions on the terps. Made me feel like I was part of the story. That makes a terp very well-qualified.
 
Bramus said:
Cause someone's gotta foot the bill and nobody wants to do it.

Certain (big) places do provide the service at no additional cost to the consumer like the American Airlines Arena down here in Miami. I have a friend who wanted to go take his daughter to see a Disney on Ice show and all he had to do was contact their offices and it would be all setup for an interpreter to be present.

off topic: I'd wanted to take my girlfriend but the tickets are so damn expensive for the Disney shows!
Click to expand...

That's true. It's also based on ignorance of the fact that 1 out of 10 people in the U.S. has a hearing loss. The bigger the audience the more likely you'll find those with greater hearing loss. And with a bigger audience the more likely the stage theater company will be amenable to the idea of including real time captioning and/or interpreter(s).
 
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