# ASL and Balconies



## Allana (Nov 13, 2018)

I have a 2700 seat auditorium with 3 balconies.
Typically we put ASL interpreters in the moat and try to seat the patron using the services on the main floor side (so they look through the interpreter toward the lectern/performance).

Last year, box office put the patron in the 1st balcony side because they did not pay for a ground-floor ticket and the touring stage manager struggled to put the interpreter anywhere that made sense (our normal position would have been too directly down and the action on-stage was too busy to put the interpreter onstage). We ended up putting them in the moat opposite the patron but that put the patron at a distance of about 60-70 feet from interpreter. As I told administration, just because they didn't formally complain, does not mean that what we did was acceptable.

Now that same issue has come up again. The solution this time is to put the interpreter in the front row of the first balcony. I have never, ever seen anyone put an interpreter on a balcony before. Have you?

What is the best solution here to provide reasonable, visible accommodations while still maintaining a reasonable experience for all patrons?


----------



## RonHebbard (Nov 13, 2018)

Allana said:


> I have a 2700 seat auditorium with 3 balconies.
> Typically we put ASL interpreters in the moat and try to seat the patron using the services on the main floor side (so they look through the interpreter toward the lectern/performance).
> 
> Last year, box office put the patron in the 1st balcony side because they did not pay for a ground-floor ticket and the touring stage manager struggled to put the interpreter anywhere that made sense (our normal position would have been too directly down and the action on-stage was too busy to put the interpreter onstage). We ended up putting them in the moat opposite the patron but that put the patron at a distance of about 60-70 feet from interpreter. As I told administration, just because they didn't formally complain, does not mean that what we did was acceptable.
> ...


*@Allana* _What a nasty little problem._ If this is for one or two regular attendees once per production, could your administrators not eat the incremental cost of the orchestra level seat for the convenience of yourself and your patrons? Does this particular patron always travel with an escort?? Are we the speaking of two seats per performance. _ Please do tell more. _
Toodleoo! 
Ron Hebbard


----------



## SteveB (Nov 13, 2018)

It's got to be cheaper and easier to just seat the patron in the orchestra.

Which is what we do in our 2300 seat road house, all patrons buying mezzanine and/or balcony priced tickets, get seated in the ADA compliant orchestra seats set aside for this purpose. There was no method to configure either our balcony or mezzanine to make them ADA compliant.


----------



## Jay Ashworth (Nov 13, 2018)

Yeah; eat the twenty bucks.


----------



## Allana (Nov 13, 2018)

Is it possible/reasonable to think the patron may WANT a balcony seat instead of an orchestra seat?

(I agree with you all - just thinking of possible counter-arguments.)


----------



## josh88 (Nov 13, 2018)

Apologize to them and say that unfortunately those seats won't be compliant/they'd have to give up the interpreter because its not viable for those locations and offer to refund them or move them to the appropriate location.


----------



## macsound (Nov 13, 2018)

It also may be possible to ask what the patron prefers when they purchase their ticket. 
I used to teach community college classes and they had everything from a stenographer, ASL translator, speech to text, wireless mic and implant receiver etc.

Working on large conferences, they also offered a wide breadth of options including this new company https://www.ava.me that offers live speech to text with amazing accuracy. 
The company is based in SF and is owned by a deaf man who was frustrated with day to day life and this app allows almost instantaneous P2P interaction, like a presenter can install it on their phone and the listener reads off their phone.


----------



## Allana (Nov 13, 2018)

macsound said:


> It also may be possible to ask what the patron prefers when they purchase their ticket.
> I used to teach community college classes and they had everything from a stenographer, ASL translator, speech to text, wireless mic and implant receiver etc.



We have access to captioning, audio description, audio-assist, and speech to text. The request goes through the University inclusion department (I forget its actual title) and then they inform the venue which patron will be using what services for what event.


----------



## BillConnerFASTC (Nov 13, 2018)

Closed circuit tv?


----------

