Posted on August 27, 2008 by John Waldo

Another Theater Hears Us

After initially pleading poverty, and after Wash-CAP filed a court action, Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre has now agreed tentatively that it will offer captioned performances beginning in the 2009-2010 season.

5th Avenue, which chiefly offers Broadway-type musicals, had said on several occasions that captioning would constitute an "undue burden," and was therefore not required under either state or federal law. That answer was unacceptable to us in light of the fact that 5th Avenue's annual budget is over $19 million, and 5th Avenue said captioning one performance of each of its seven seasonal productions would cost "almost" $14,000. Our view was that if spending that amounts to less than one-tenth of one percent of the annual budget is an "undue" burden, then captioning would never be warranted.

After we filed suit, though, 5th Avenue said it would offer captioned performances (at least one per production) starting in 2009. While we couldn't understand exactly why the theater couldn't begin offering captions immediately, the practical reality was that our trial date wasn't until January of 2010, so 5th Avenue was offering us more than we could get in court. That being the case, we agreed in concept, believing that an imperfect compromise made more sense than a "perfect" trial.

There are still some details to be negotiated, but the attorneys for 5th Avenue have indicated that they don't believe those details will be insurmountable.

Before suit was filed, 5th Avenue had agreed to provide scripts in lighted binders, which will let those with hearing loss read along with the performance. While we thought that was a significantly less useful accomodation than real-time captioning, it is better than nothing. We have asked 5th Avenue to continue offering the lighted scripts, giving hearing-impaired patrons the option of either attending the designated captioned performance(s), or attending a different performance using the lighted scripts. We believe that combination will make 5th Avenue one of the more accessible theaters in the country for people with hearing loss.

Wash-CAP continues its focus on live theaters in Washington. We are continuing to work with The Paramount Theatre and with the various venues at Seattle Centre, where captioned performances have been offered in the past at our request. We will update this website as future captioned performances are confirmed.

 

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Posted on August 11, 2008 by John Waldo

One Enchanted Evening, One New Lawsuit

Captioned theater made its Washington State debut Sunday evening, Aug. 10, when Seattle's Paramount Theatre presented a captioned version of A Chorus Line.

The captions, provided and operated by the Caption Coalition (c2net) of Boston, were displayed on a portable message board set up in front of the stage in synch with the performance. David Chu, founder and CEO of c2net, was on hand to personally oversee the preparation and display of the captions. Paramount Theatre set aside a generous block of 80 tickets in the right-orchestra section of the theater, from where the captions were clearly visible.

Despite less than a month's notice, summer vacations and little public advertising (other than what we were able to do on this website and through Washington's hearing-loss organizations), we had over 50 people request seats in the caption area. Paramount Theatre manager Mason Sherry said afterwards that he thought the performance went well, and seemed optimistic about future captioned performances.

The news from Seattle's other major theater, though, has not been good. 5th Avenue Theatre, which bills itself as Seattle's largest theatrical employer, has declined to provide captioned performances, claiming that doing so would constitute an "undue burden." 5th Avenue said that captioning one performance of each of the seven productions it presents in any one season would cost $14,000, and it claims that it can't make room in an annual budget of some $19 million to provide for captioning.

If captioning were declared to be an "undue burden," 5th Avenue would not be required to provide it. However, in order to claim that providing an accommodation like captioning constitutes an undue burden, the facility must show that it can't reduce expenses, can't expect a revenue increase from the expected new audience, can't raise enough revenue by increasing admission charges to everyone, and can't find a sponsor.

Because 5th Avenue did not provide any information to substantiate its claim that captioning would constitute an undue burden, the Washington State Communication Access Project (Wash-CAP) filed suit last week in state court in Seattle. Our complaint did not ask for money damages, but asked that 5th Avenue provide captioned performances like the performance provided by Paramount. Trial is not scheduled to occur until January of 2010, but we hope to work out a settlement with 5th Avenue well before that date.

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