The Theatre Development Fund (TDF) will continue its partnership with the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center to deliver world-class performing arts experiences to people who are deaf or impacted by hearing loss. During the upcoming 2010/11 Season, the Center will continue to provide open captioning services in partnership with TDF's National Open Captioning Initiative.
Tammy Ebben, the Center's director of event management and accessibility services, said last year's pilot program was a clear success. "Last year was the first season we were able to offer open captioning. We're the only live theater in Northeast Wisconsin to offer it, and I think the need for this service was very clear." According to TDF, about 10-15 percent of the population is hard of hearing or deaf. Within the next 10 years, an estimated one out of every four Americans will be 65 and older, and 25 percent of them will have some level of hearing loss.
Surveys were issued last season to both people who requested open captioning and others in nearby seating location. Ebben stated, "The feedback we received was very positive and supportive of open captioning at the Center. For people who are deaf or hearing impaired, the opportunity to experience a live theatrical event without missing a single word is an extraordinary experience."
This year, the Center will provide open captioning services for the following performances:
Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific
Saturday, September 18, 2010; 2:00 p.m.
Barter Theatre's The Diary of Anne Frank
Thursday, October 21, 2010; 7:30 p.m.
A Chorus Line
Saturday, November 13, 2010; 2:00 p.m.
Wicked
Saturday, January 29, 2011; 2:00 p.m.
NETworks Presents Disney's Beauty and the Beast
Saturday, April 30, 2011; 2:00 p.m.
HAl Holbrook in Mark Twain Tonight
Saturday, April 30, 2011; 7:30 p.m.
Jersey Boys
Saturday, June 4, 2011; 2:00 p.m.
The Fox Cities Performing Arts Center offers a plethora of accessibility services for patrons with disabilities including accessible seating, American Sign Language interpretation, large print programs and complimentary valet parking for people displaying valid disabled parking license plates or identification cards. For a complete list of accessibility services, please visit foxcitiespac.com and select accessibility under the visitor information menu.
Ticket buyers may request open caption seating for these performances either in person at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center's ticket office or by calling (920) 730-3760. A limited number of seats are held for this purpose, and ticket buyers are encouraged to purchase their tickets in advance.
Open captioning is a text display of words and sounds heard during an event service provided for people with hearing disabilities who use assistive listening devices, hearing aids, cochlear implants, sign language and lip reading. The display is positioned in such a way that it is open for anyone to see in a particular seating area. It is considered passive assistance, a service that is there to use or ignore, so that no one is labeled as needing the service.
2 (Caption Coalition) Inc. is a consultant and service provider of both theatrical captioning and CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) captioning for people who are hard of hearing and deaf in the live arena. To date, c2 members are collectively responsible for captioning over 800 theatrical productions in more than 180 venues. Furthermore, c2 also provides CART captioning of various lecture series in the arts.
Theatre Development Fund, nonprofit service organization for the performing arts, has played a unique role in strengthening live theater and dance in New York City for the past 42 years. TDF's diverse programs have filled over 78 million seats at discount prices (with theater lovers who would normally not be able to attend live performances) and returned nearly two billion dollars in revenue to thousands of theater, dance and music productions. Best known for its TKTS Discount Booths, TDF's membership, voucher, access and education programs, as well as its costume collection, help to make the unique experience of theater available to everyone. This past year, TDF published its first book, "Outrageous Fortune: The Life and Times of the New American Play." For more information about TDF's programs, go to tdf.org.
