Captioned, described, and relaxed performances

An access performance is your show with something added or adjusted so more people can enjoy it: captions, live description, sign language interpretation, or a calmer house. None of it is complicated, but all of it depends on bookings made weeks before anyone thinks to ask. And opening night, access performance or not, should never be the inaccessible exception.

Captioning, open or on a device

Open captioning puts the words of the show on a display near the stage: dialogue, lyrics, speaker names, and important sounds (a phone ringing offstage, a door slamming). The text is prepared from the script and cued live by a captioner, so it keeps pace with the actors on the night.

Captions serve Deaf and hard of hearing audience members and anyone who follows better reading along. Seat captioning users where they can take in the display and the stage at one glance, and agree the display position with the provider before you set the block.

Some venues also offer captions on handheld screens, seat-mounted displays, or glasses. Device captioning needs charged devices, a staffed pickup point, and ushers who know that a lit screen in row G is an access service; the digital program has more on screens in a dark house.

Audio description and the touch tour

Audio description is live narration of what’s happening visually: who enters, what they’re wearing, a look between two characters. A trained describer with a clear view of the stage speaks during gaps in the dialogue, and blind and low-vision audience members listen on headsets. A pre-show introduction covers the set, costumes, and characters.

The touch tour comes before the house opens. Guests come onstage to handle props, feel costume fabrics, walk the set, and sometimes meet cast members, so they can match voices to characters. Stage management decides what can be touched (no weapons, nothing fragile, nothing preset for the top of the show) and when the stage must clear. If cast members take part, treat it as part of their call and check your agreements.

Sign language interpretation

Qualified interpreters translate the show into a sign language (American Sign Language in the US, for example) for Deaf audience members who use it. A full-length show is often shared by a team, with characters divided between them.

Interpreters usually stand at one side of the stage, close enough to the action that the audience can watch both. They need their own light: a special that keeps hands and faces visible through blackouts and dim scenes without spilling onto the stage picture, ideally against a plain dark background. Settle the position with the interpreters before the lighting designer focuses.

Book early: good theatrical interpreters are booked well ahead. Send the script as soon as you can, and ideally give rehearsal access (watching runs, or a recording if your agreements allow one), so they can prepare a translation rather than interpret cold.

Relaxed performances

A relaxed performance (sometimes called sensory-friendly) keeps the show and softens the rules. It welcomes autistic people, people with sensory sensitivities or learning disabilities, people living with dementia, families with young children, and anyone for whom sitting silently in the dark is a barrier.

• House lights stay partly up.
• Sound levels come down, sudden loud effects are softened or cut, and strobe and heavy haze go.
• Freedom to move: guests can talk, make noise, stand, or leave and come back.
• A chill-out space outside the house: quiet, dim, staffed, with an easy way back in.
• A visual story or social narrative, sent in advance: photos and plain words walking through the visit: the front door, the seats, the characters in and out of costume, and any loud moments.

These are design changes, so agree them with the director and designers, rehearse the adjusted cues, and check whether your licensing or rights agreement says anything about altering the production.

Assistive listening

Assistive listening sends the show’s sound straight to the listener: through a hearing loop to hearing aids and cochlear implants with a telecoil setting, or through infrared or radio receivers with headphones or a neckloop. It should work at every performance. Charge the batteries, clean the earpieces, test a receiver from a seat before every house opens, and staff the device station.

Scheduling across the run

Announce access performances with the run, not after it: people who use them need time to arrange companions, transport, and time off. Some rules of thumb:

• Schedule them after the show is frozen, so everyone prepares the show you’ll actually perform.
• Spread them out. A weekend matinee and a weekday evening reach different people.
• Give captioned and interpreted performances separate dates where you can; their audiences overlap but aren’t the same.

Opening night is an access night too

Opening night is often the wrong date for captions, description, or interpretation, which prepare best from a frozen show. It still has to be accessible: your guests include people who use wheelchairs, wear hearing aids, or bring a service animal.

• Wheelchair spaces and companion seats are assigned before any tier touches the map, as guest list tiers that keep the peace explains.
• Assistive listening is tested, staffed, and mentioned.
• A step-free route runs from the street through check-in to the seats, restrooms, and party, clear of the photo wall.
• Accessible restrooms are open and not storing the party’s spare chairs.
• Service animals are welcome, with room at the seat and a known relief area.

Ask about access needs on the RSVP, and put an accessibility contact on the opening night invitation. Run the curtain speech through the assistive listening system, too; writing the curtain speech covers the rest. Accessibility law in many places sets requirements for all of these, so check with your venue and counsel about what applies to you.

Telling the people who need to know

A season brochure won’t find most of the people an access performance is for. Go where they already get information:

• An access page with every date, what each service involves, how to book, and the visual story, in plain language and real text.
• Community organizations: Deaf community groups, blind and low-vision organizations, autism and disability groups, special education programs, and dementia support networks.
• Formats that fit, such as a sign language video announcing interpreted dates.

Use the same name for each service everywhere. If the listing says “captioned” and the box office says “subtitled,” someone books the wrong date.

Box office and seating

Access seats only help if they’re still there when the right person calls.

• Hold the best seats for each access performance: the captioning block, the interpreter sightlines, front seats for low-vision guests at described performances, and aisle seats near an exit for relaxed ones. Release unsold holds on a stated date, not before.
• Companion seats sit beside the access seat. Decide your companion ticket policy (some companies offer a free or discounted seat) and write it down.
• Take bookings every way: online, by phone, by email, and through relay services.
• Record what each guest needs, with their permission, so front of house knows before they arrive. Ask what someone needs, not why.

Briefing front of house

Before each access performance, brief front of house in person: the captioning block, where the describer sits, where the headsets live, which sightlines to the interpreters must stay clear, and who staffs the chill-out space. For a relaxed performance, say it out loud: nobody gets shushed.

Every night, the basics hold:

• Ask before helping, then do what the person asks. Don’t push a wheelchair or take an arm uninvited.
• Speak to the guest, not their companion or interpreter.
• Don’t pet or distract a service animal.
• Know the step-free route, the accessible restrooms, and the evacuation plan for guests who can’t use stairs.

For early entry and the accessibility lane at the door, see door check-in that doesn’t jam the lobby.

Field note: An hour before the house opens, walk the step-free route yourself, from the street door to the wheelchair spaces and the accessible restroom. Check that doors open, the ramp is clear, and nothing has been parked in the way since yesterday.

An access performance is still your show, with the door held a little wider. Book it early, tell the people it’s for, and make sure the night they choose works from the street to the curtain call.