Performance Interpreting
A team built around your show, from script study to performance night.
FOR: THEATRES, PRESENTERS, CONCERT VENUES, FESTIVALS
FOR THEATRES, FESTIVALS, AND PRESENTERS
Access is not an add-on.
It’s part of the production.
Nineteen seasons of ASL-interpreted performance across the Philadelphia region, from Broadway tours to black-box premieres. We handle the interpreters, the preparation and the coordination, so your team can focus on the show.
THE DIFFERENCE
Anyone can put an interpreter in a theatre.
Making a performance genuinely accessible is different work, and it starts six to eight weeks before anyone walks onstage. Script study. Deaf coaches. Rehearsal in your theatre with your show running. By the time your Deaf audience arrives, the interpretation is part of the storytelling, not a translation beside it.
WHAT WE DO
What we do
Most partners start with one interpreted performance. Many end up working with us across a season.
ASL Coaching
Casting a Deaf character or staging a scene in ASL? We help your creative team get it right, linguistically and culturally.
FOR: DIRECTORS, PRODUCERS, CREATIVE TEAMS, FILM AND VIDEO
Access Consulting
Planning access as part of production: seasons, marketing to Deaf audiences, front of house, budgets, grant language.
FOR: ARTS ORGANIZATIONS, PRESENTERS, FESTIVALS, FUNDERS
Script & Translation Consultation
Working through the wordplay, the songs and the moments a literal rendering would get wrong, before anyone steps onstage.
FOR: NEW WORK, MUSICALS, LANGUAGE-DENSE PLAYS
LEARN WITH US · FOR INTERPRETERS AND DEAF PROFESSIONALS
THE PROCESS
How it works
If you’ve never booked an interpreted performance before, it’s more straightforward than most people expect.
1
Reach out
The show, the dates, the venue. That’s enough to start.
2
We scope it together
A team, an approach, and a written price. No surprises.
3
Confirm
Agreement signed, date locked, team cast.
4
Preparation
Six to eight weeks: table work, then rehearsal in your theatre with a Deaf coach.
5
Performance day
We arrive early, check in with stage management, and do the work.
6
After
A clean invoice, and a conversation about next season.
What we’ll need from you
A script, as early as you can share it. Drafts are fine.
Music and recordings, for anything with songs.
A rehearsal or a run, live or recorded.
A placement and lighting conversation, a couple of weeks out.
House seats where your Deaf audience can see the stage and the interpreters.
One point of contact who knows the production.
Don’t have all of it? We’ve worked with less.
What it costs
Most interpreted performances are a flat rate per performance, covering the team, the preparation and the coordination. Festivals and consulting are quoted hourly. Travel outside the region is a flat daily stipend, included in your quote.
You’ll always have a written number before you commit, and we’ll help you put it in a grant or a season budget.
LET’S TALK ABOUT TURNOUT
How many people will actually come?
Fair question. Roughly one percent of any city goes to the theatre regularly, and the Deaf community is small to begin with. Measure an interpreted performance against a typical house and you’ll draw the wrong conclusion.
Measure it differently. Deaf audiences come as families, and they come back when they can count on you.
27 seats
Beauty and the Beast at the Walnut Street Theatre. For this audience, a very good night.
60+ students
One Hamilton matinee, when a Deaf school came as a group.
Tell us the date early and we’ll help get the word out. Audiences build when they can count on you.
Where we’ve worked
Academy of Music
Kimmel Center
Forrest Theatre
Walnut Street Theatre
People’s Light
Arden Theatre
Hedgerow Theatre
Philadelphia Theatre Company
Bucks County Playhouse
The Mann
The Fillmore
Eastern State Penitentiary
Philadelphia Orchestra
West Chester University
FringeArts
ICA at UPenn
BlackStar Film Festival
Roots Picnic
Press and podcasts
BROAD STREET REVIEW · APRIL 29, 2025
PHILADELPHIA GAY NEWS · MAY 27, 2025
WHAT I LEARNED TODAY · FEBRUARY 2024 · CAPTIONED
Questions we get
Let’s talk about your season
Tell us what you’re producing and when. We’ll take it from there.