美国国家公共电台 NPR A Blind Theatergoer's 'Hamilton' Lawsuit Aims Spotlight On Broadway Accessibility

 

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

Broadway has a spotty track record of accommodating audience members with disabilities. That was highlighted recently when a blind theatregoer sued the producers of the hit musical "Hamilton." Jeff Lunden reports.

JEFF LUNDEN, BYLINE¹: "Hamilton" opened almost a year and a half ago, but it's still the hottest ticket on Broadway.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MY SHOT")

LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA: (As Alexander Hamilton, singing) I am not throwing away my shot. I am not throwing away my shot.

LUNDEN: And Mark Lasser of Denver, Colo., who's blind, wanted to take his wife and get audio description services to help him enjoy a performance. That means he hoped to get a headset and hear the stage action being described in real time while the show goes on. But he discovered that "Hamilton" doesn't offer this particular service.

SCOTT DININ: I think what this suit brings to light is that you have a hidden population out there that is not gaining the full access to Broadway.

LUNDEN: Attorney Scott Dinin represents Lasser in the lawsuit³ brought against the show's producers and theater owner.

DININ: And sometimes you need a lawsuit like this to bring this to the public's attention because no one with a real, I think, heart or mind or living in modern society would say anything but, like, audio description at least one performance a month, one performance a year.

LUNDEN: Broadway is taking great strides in the decades since the Americans With Disabilities Act, or ADA, was passed in 1990. Last year, a new website called Theatre Access NYC launched. It's a collaboration⁴ between the Broadway League, which represents producers and theater owners, and the Theatre Development Fund, a nonprofit which offers discount tickets and services to theatergoers with disabilities. Lisa Carling is TDF's director of accessibility programs. She says the goal of the website is...

LISA CARLING: To make it one stop where people with disabilities could go to find out what accessible performances were available.

LUNDEN: A quick glance shows that most Broadway theaters are wheelchair accessible, offer open captioning⁵ and hearing assistance devices, and there are occasional special performances for people on the autistic spectrum⁶. But only four long-running musicals, including "The Lion King" and "The Book Of Mormon," offer audio description.

MARK ANNUNZIATO: Audio description has been around for a number of years, since the '80s.

LUNDEN: Mark Annunziato is vice² president for operations and engineering at Sound Associates, a company that rents audio and video equipment to Broadway shows. The company also developed automated⁷ audio description services. In the past, groups of blind and low-vision customers attended special performances with a live interpreter.

ANNUNZIATO: I'll start it at the beginning.

LUNDEN: Annunziato sits at a laptop in Sound Associates' studio to demonstrate the automated audio description.

ANNUNZIATO: This is not automated. This is me just hitting go. And this is...

LUNDEN: He selects a bit from the recently closed hit musical "Jersey⁸ Boys."

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: All the fencing rises and ascends⁹ into the ceiling. The rapper comes down the right staircase and dances across the front of the stage. He gyrates his hips¹⁰ and kicks his feet side to side. He holds a microphone.

LUNDEN: Annunziato explains that since Broadway shows now use computers to trigger light, set and sound cues, audio description can be set up to work with those systems and offered at every performance with minimal¹¹ cost, especially when Broadway musicals have budgets between five and $25 million.

ANNUNZIATO: The base system usually ranges in and around $20,000. So that would be the automation system, the computer system and the wireless¹² broadcast system to all the devices.

LUNDEN: Add $5,000 to write, record and sync a script and a monthly maintenance fee. Howard Sherman of the Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts says the cost of setting up an audio description system more than pays for itself with a hit show.

HOWARD SHERMAN: Certainly once a show sets up a sustained run, and when we look at musicals that run five, 10, 15, 20 years, it really is a very small price to pay for opening up a show to a much, much wider audience.

LUNDEN: And that's really what attorney Scott Dinin is trying to say with this "Hamilton" lawsuit. He's not seeking damages for his client. He can't under the terms of the ADA. He's trying to make sure that theater becomes more inclusive by spotlighting¹³ the problem using Broadway's biggest hit.

DININ: Audio description is the right thing to do. It's not that expensive. We have to get a mindset - how do we increase inclusion? It should be top of mind - equality, accommodation and respect - because once people put that at the decision-making table, all the services will flow from that.

LUNDEN: With the case ongoing¹⁴, "Hamilton's" producers declined to comment for this story. So did a number of other Broadway producers. For NPR News, I'm Jeff Lunden in New York.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

3 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

4 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

5 captioning   

v.给（图片、照片等）加说明文字( caption的现在分词 )

参考例句：

6 spectrum   

n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列

参考例句：

• This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。
• We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成，我们已了解不少。

7 automated   

a.自动化的

参考例句：

• The entire manufacturing process has been automated. 整个生产过程已自动化。
• Automated Highway System (AHS) is recently regarded as one subsystem of Intelligent Transport System (ITS). 近年来自动公路系统(Automated Highway System,AHS)，作为智能运输系统的子系统之一越来越受到重视。

8 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

9 ascends   

v.上升，攀登( ascend的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The azygos vein ascends in the right paravertebral gutter. 奇静脉在右侧脊柱旁沟内上升。 来自辞典例句
• The mortality curve ascends gradually to a plateau at age 65. 死亡曲线逐渐上升，到65岁时成平稳状态。 来自辞典例句

10 hips   

abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯，耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 )；[建筑学]屋脊；臀围（尺寸）；臀部…的

参考例句：

• She stood with her hands on her hips. 她双手叉腰站着。
• They wiggled their hips to the sound of pop music. 他们随着流行音乐的声音摇晃着臀部。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 minimal   

adj.尽可能少的，最小的

参考例句：

• They referred to this kind of art as minimal art.他们把这种艺术叫微型艺术。
• I stayed with friends, so my expenses were minimal.我住在朋友家，所以我的花费很小。

12 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。

13 spotlighting   

v.聚光照明( spotlight的现在分词 )；使公众注意，使突出醒目

参考例句：

14 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。