New Open Caption Performances Announced at Palace Theater

The Theatre Development Fund of the National Open Captioning Initiative (NOCI), has selected the Palace Theater as one of five theatres nationwide

to receive funding for a two-year partnership to sponsor Open Captioned performances of its Broadway presentations during the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons.

Open captioning is a service that displays the text of a show simultaneously with the performance on a screen located near the edge of the stage, and doesn't require the use of any special equipment by the patron.

The Open Caption performances are being offered during select matinees of all five of the Webster Broadway Series, including THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. The Palace is proud to offer this service for the first time, to enhance these magical performances for audience members who enjoy the use of closed captioning features at home or who simply don't want to miss a word of the production.

The mission of the program is to help theatres provide increased accessibility and expand their attendance by people who are deaf or hard of hearing over a two year period. The goal is that after the two years, the theatres will have developed a strategy to continue providing this much needed access for these audience members in their communities. To that end the Palace Theater is pleased and grateful to announce that Carol Wintrode Maksimow and Hearing Aid Specialists of CT is the exclusive sponsor of this new initiative providing additional support to make this wonderful opportunity possible. Maksimow commented "Open Caption seating will give those of us who utilize the closed caption feature on our home TVs access to visual script. In the past, individuals who have had difficulty hearing soft spoken dialog may have avoided attending live theater performances. Open Caption seating allows an individual to easily verify a key word or phrase providing a new level of auditory confidence to enjoy these wonderful theatrical performances. This new seating feature allows us to optimize the experience and enjoy live performing arts life long."

Contact the Palace Box Office if you are interested in purchasing tickets and being seated to take advantage of this new service by phone at 203-346-2000 or in person at the Box Office, 100 East Main St.

Tickets can also be purchased online at www.palacetheaterct.org.

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