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YCT to put on 'South Pacific' for the deaf | deaf, pacific, put - News - YumaSun
It's pretty hard to bring a new twist to a multiple Tony-winning musical that is almost 60 years old, has been made into an Oscar-winning movie and has had numerous revivals and performances, both off-Broadway and on.
But Yuma Community Theater will be doing just that in January when it opens its run of the ever-popular musical, "South Pacific," at downtown's Historic Yuma Theatre. Two of the shows - the 7 p.m. performance on Jan. 17 and the 2 p.m. on Jan. 18 - will feature open captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing.
Fred Brown, director of the musical production and longtime member of the YCT's board of directors, said this will be a first for Yuma theater.
"We've never had a production before where the lines of dialogue and the lyrics from the songs will instantly be available on our large movie screen for hearing impaired members of the audience to follow along. This will be a live performance, fully and instantly captioned.
"The stage is about eight feet tall, but fortunately, we have another eight feet above that to place our movie screen, so it will be easy for audience members to follow along with the action and the dialogue."
The cost of providing this service for the production is being split equally between YCT and the Arizona Commission for the Deaf and the Hard of Hearing.
"When Fred Brown first approached me with the idea of using sign language for translation of the musical, I thought it was wonderful," said Sherry Appleby of ACDHH. "But because we only had two licensed sign language interpreters in Yuma, we thought we would be more successful if we used Captioning at Real Time (CART).
"CART is really quite simple. It works almost exactly like a court recorder. They have a special machine operator who takes down every word, just like they do in court, but it runs through a computer, which flashes the words up on the screen. The words appear on the screen almost as soon as they're spoken, which is why it's called real time."
Appleby explained that most of the cost comes from having to find a licensed CART operator. "We don't have one in Yuma, so we have to bring in someone from Tucson or Phoenix. We have to pay their hourly fee and of course their expenses for traveling out of town to Yuma.
"We're very excited by this opportunity to participate in the musical," Appleby said. "It's just such an honor to be doing this in Yuma for the first time."
Established in 1977, this is just the type of project that ACDHH was originally set up to support. "ACDHH was established to ensure, in partnership with the public and private sector, accessibility for the deaf and the hard of hearing to improve their quality of life," said Appleby.
"We're really proud of this," said Brown, "and we want everyone to know about it. Not only are we putting on one of the greatest musicals of all time, but for the first time in Yuma, it will be fully accessible to the deaf and the hard of hearing."
"South Pacific" was originally adapted by Rogers and Hammerstein from the James A. Michener Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "Tales of the South Pacific."
Tickets for the show, which runs Jan. 9-25, can be purchased from the Yuma Art Center, 373-5202, or the Yuma Civic Center, 919-4876. Tickets are $15 for reserved seats.
Since only the performances on Jan. 17 and 18 will be open captioned, if deaf and hearing impaired patrons have already purchased tickets to other shows, they may be exchanged for those dates, according to Appleby.
"There may be tickets available at the door. However, the Historic Yuma Theater only seats 640 people and tickets may well be sold out by the time of the performance," said Brown.
It's pretty hard to bring a new twist to a multiple Tony-winning musical that is almost 60 years old, has been made into an Oscar-winning movie and has had numerous revivals and performances, both off-Broadway and on.
But Yuma Community Theater will be doing just that in January when it opens its run of the ever-popular musical, "South Pacific," at downtown's Historic Yuma Theatre. Two of the shows - the 7 p.m. performance on Jan. 17 and the 2 p.m. on Jan. 18 - will feature open captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing.
Fred Brown, director of the musical production and longtime member of the YCT's board of directors, said this will be a first for Yuma theater.
"We've never had a production before where the lines of dialogue and the lyrics from the songs will instantly be available on our large movie screen for hearing impaired members of the audience to follow along. This will be a live performance, fully and instantly captioned.
"The stage is about eight feet tall, but fortunately, we have another eight feet above that to place our movie screen, so it will be easy for audience members to follow along with the action and the dialogue."
The cost of providing this service for the production is being split equally between YCT and the Arizona Commission for the Deaf and the Hard of Hearing.
"When Fred Brown first approached me with the idea of using sign language for translation of the musical, I thought it was wonderful," said Sherry Appleby of ACDHH. "But because we only had two licensed sign language interpreters in Yuma, we thought we would be more successful if we used Captioning at Real Time (CART).
"CART is really quite simple. It works almost exactly like a court recorder. They have a special machine operator who takes down every word, just like they do in court, but it runs through a computer, which flashes the words up on the screen. The words appear on the screen almost as soon as they're spoken, which is why it's called real time."
Appleby explained that most of the cost comes from having to find a licensed CART operator. "We don't have one in Yuma, so we have to bring in someone from Tucson or Phoenix. We have to pay their hourly fee and of course their expenses for traveling out of town to Yuma.
"We're very excited by this opportunity to participate in the musical," Appleby said. "It's just such an honor to be doing this in Yuma for the first time."
Established in 1977, this is just the type of project that ACDHH was originally set up to support. "ACDHH was established to ensure, in partnership with the public and private sector, accessibility for the deaf and the hard of hearing to improve their quality of life," said Appleby.
"We're really proud of this," said Brown, "and we want everyone to know about it. Not only are we putting on one of the greatest musicals of all time, but for the first time in Yuma, it will be fully accessible to the deaf and the hard of hearing."
"South Pacific" was originally adapted by Rogers and Hammerstein from the James A. Michener Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "Tales of the South Pacific."
Tickets for the show, which runs Jan. 9-25, can be purchased from the Yuma Art Center, 373-5202, or the Yuma Civic Center, 919-4876. Tickets are $15 for reserved seats.
Since only the performances on Jan. 17 and 18 will be open captioned, if deaf and hearing impaired patrons have already purchased tickets to other shows, they may be exchanged for those dates, according to Appleby.
"There may be tickets available at the door. However, the Historic Yuma Theater only seats 640 people and tickets may well be sold out by the time of the performance," said Brown.