I love attending the theater, but with hearing loss it can be challenging. The dialogue moves quickly, performers sometimes speak in heavy accents and the phrasing of the songs can make it hard to understand what the actors are saying. What a dream it would be if the performances were captioned.
Well, it turns out some of them are.
Last week, I attended my first open-captioned performance on Broadway. It was wonderful. The musical, “Tuck Everlasting,” is set in a magical woodland outside a provincial town. It deals with life and death, and asks the question, “Would you want to live forever?” The dialogue is fun, the sets beautiful, and the 11-year old star is a dynamo. The captions were a huge help. I even saw my husband (no hearing loss) glancing over a few times to pick up a line of dialogue or two that he missed.
The captions were sponsored by the Theater Development Fund (TDF), a nonprofit organization based in New York City that’s been working since 1968 to open up theater and dance to more diverse audiences in New York and other cities. TDF sponsors open-captioned performances on Broadway, like the one I attended, and also audio-described performances for the blind, sign language–interpreted shows, and autism-friendly performances. The organization offers tickets through its website for members who demonstrate eligibility. You can join for free here. Click here to continue reading.
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