After a successful inaugural season at the Keller Auditorium, Portland Center for the Performing Arts and Theatre Development Fund have renewed the partnership that will allow open captioning to continue for the 2012-2013 Fred Meyer Broadway Across America Portland season. Open captioning is an alternate form of accessibility for the estimated 30 million Americans who are hard of hearing or deaf, and specifically for the 98 percent who do not use American Sign Language. In 2011, PCPA became the first venue in Portland to offer open captioning to its patrons.
"We are so thankful to Theatre Development Fund for their continued support of our open captioning program," said Robyn Williams, executive director of the Portland Center for the Performing Arts. "Open captioning has been a real asset to the Broadway series and has allowed PCPA patrons who are deaf and hard of hearing to fully experience the wonderful performances that happen at the Keller."
Through the entire process, PCPA has worked with Oregon Communication Access Project, a non-profit organization whose mission is to advocate for the proliferation of captioning to enhance the lives of people with hearing loss.
"Captioning, in addition to benefitting those with recognized hearing loss, also benefits those who have not yet been diagnosed or are in denial about their hearing loss," said David Viers, president of the project. "We are grateful to PCPA and Theatre Development Fund for their continued support."
Open captioning is a service for patrons with hearing loss that uses a text display to provide a simultaneous translation of dialogue and lyrics during a live performance, as well as a description of any sound effects on stage.
The service is open to everyone for viewing in a designated seating area without any special equipment needed by the audience member. Because of this, open captioning is considered passive assistance and is part of the Universal Design concept, which means that it can be used by all people, regardless of age and ability. c2 (caption coalition) inc., a pioneer in live performance captioning, will provide the open captioning services at Keller Auditorium.
Open captioning will be available at the following performances in the 2012-2013 Broadway season:
- "Memphis" – Sunday, Sept. 16, 2012 at 6:30 p.m.
- "Book of Mormon" – Sunday, Jan. 6, 2013 at 6:30 p.m.
- "War Horse" – Sunday, March 3, 2013 at 6:30 p.m.
- "Flashdance" – Sunday, April 28, 2013 at 6:30 p.m.
- "Rock of Ages" – Sunday, June 2, 2013 at 6:30 p.m.
- "The Addams Family" – Sunday, June 30, 2013 at 6:30 p.m.