HowlRound Theatre Commons: Captions play an important role in the accessibility of theatrical productions for all audience members, particularly those who are d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHOH), neurodivergent, and/or living with sensory processing disorders. Secondary to their use as an accessibility tool, captions are an important visual element of a theatrical production and should be approached with the same thought, artistry, and attention as design elements like lighting and projections. This is where the concept of creative captions come in.
3 comments:
Earlier this year I saw Another Kind of Silence, which was largely performed in ASL, and it had a very creative use of captions that really integrated with and accentuated the scenic elements. I hadn’t thought before, though, about how to deliver captions on individual devices that still feel like an element of the show. I love the idea of matching text color to the color of someone’s costume, or using different fonts for different tones, or varying text placement to mirror blocking. As someone who doesn’t need captions but understands TV much better with them on, I would honestly enjoy captions in live theater. Sometimes, if I can’t understand what people are saying on stage, I lose the plot for like 5 minutes and can’t really get it back. So, having captions that are not only accurate but also a design element and engaging would really add something for me and create more accessibility, which is always the goal.
As someone who really struggles to both read captions and pay attention to what is happening on a stage or a screen, I love the idea of trying to incorporate them more into the story than just white text in a black square. I think this idea goes beyond the theatre and should also become a part of movies where the closed captions could be integrated so much better into the story to allow stories to become more accessible to everyone. Though this design does come with the added challenge of making sure the captions are always actually readable, as that is sorta the whole point of their existence. There's a fine line between interesting creative decisions, and completely ruining the function of closed captions, and I wonder how hard that line is to walk. This designer seems to do a good job of integrating the captions into the world of the show without blending them too much to the point of becoming incomprehensible.
I am a big fan of captioning for theater. As someone who is neurodivergent and has auditory processing issues I always watch media with captions on whenever possible. If I was able to have captions for performances that I go to see that would help incredibly with my ability to understand what I am watching and enjoy the theater going experience. The last time I saw a musical at the benedum theater in downtown Pittsburgh I was able to make use of their captioning services with an app that I downloaded on my phone. If the captioning that is available is able to compliment the performance in a way that these examples do with font and text color that would be cool. I think it is important that the captions are able to be read and easily understood, whether this is by using contrasting colors for the text background and easy to read font.
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