Open Captioning at Marin Theatre Company

Open Captioning Frequently Asked Questions

WHAT IS OPEN CAPTIONING?
Open captioning is a text display of words and sounds heard during an event. 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. No one is labeled as needing the captioning with special equipment required at his/her seat.

WHO IS IT FOR?
Open captioning is a service provided for people with hearing disabilities who use assistive listening devices, hearing aids, cochlear implants, sign language and lip reading. About 10-15% of the population is hard of hearing or deaf. Based on statistics from the 2000 United States Bureau of the Census CB91-229, this would indicate an estimated 73,000-110,000 people with hearing loss living in New York City. If roughly 3% of these individuals attend arts events, that translates into 2,200-3,300 potential audience members for captioning. Using the same comparisons, approximately 327,000-500,000 people with hearing loss live in the Metropolitan Area. If 3% of these individuals were to attend arts events, that would mean 9,800-15,000 potential audience members for captioning. Within the next 10 years, it is estimated that one out of every four Americans will be 65 and older, and 25% of them will have some level of hearing loss. There is an enormous market for open captioning, and audiences for the service continue to grow.

WHEN ARE OPEN CAPTIONED PERFORMANCES AT MARIN THEATRE COMPANY?
Marin Theatre Company currently offers open captioning at our Thursday 1:00pm matinee series. The dates for this series for the 2015/16 season are:
November 12
January 28
March 17
April 28
June 16

HOW CAN I LEARN MORE, OR PURCHASE TICKETS FOR THE OPEN CAPTIONING SECTION AT AN OC PERFORMANCE?
Email the box office at boxoffice@marintheatre.org or call (415)388-5208 for more information.