REPERTORIO ESPAÑOL is pleased to announce the installation of Figaro's Simultext® Captioning System at Repertorio's Gramercy Arts Theater (138 East 27th Street in Manhattan, NY). With the new system, every seat in the theatre will have a display screen showing the dialogue of the performance in English and Spanish. The system will debut at Repertorio's upcoming show, Probation. The installation was made possible by public funds secured by New York State Senator Liz Krueger.
The Simultext® System's screens are installed on the back of each seat and act like subtitles for live performance displaying the translated words at the moment they are spoken. As the performance progresses the dialogue is displayed in a timely manner, a brief glance down and reading of the text and look back to the performance "with an action as natural and comfortable as checking the instruments in your car," says Geoff Webb, Figaro's President, CEO, and Co-Founder.
This system will replace the current infra-red audio translation headsets and will allow the hard of hearing to enjoy Repertorio's productions. Its use will be free of cost.
The first plays to be available on the Simultext® Captioning System will be
Carmen Rivera's "La gringa"; Yoshvanni Medina's"Probation" beginning with its premiere on July 13th and
Caridad Svich's adaptation of
Gabriel García Márquez's "Love in the Time of Cholera" directed by José Zayas beginning with its premiere on October 13th, 2012.
Caridad Svich's adaptation of Julia Álvarez's "En el tiempo de las mariposas" will be the first production in the company's repertory to be added to the system beginning on June 23rd, 2012. Other productions such as "The House of Bernarda Alba," "El Quijote," "Doña Flor and Her Two Husbands" and "Mariela in the Dessert" will be added to the system by the end of 2012.
José Antonio Cruz, Repertorio's Associate Producer, excitedly reports, "We are thrilled to be able to open up our theater to a slew of new multi-lingual audiences. An important part of our mission is to bring the best theater from Latin America, Spain and plays written by Hispanic Americans to non-Spanish speaking audiences. This system will allow us to better serve these audiences while maintaining the rhythm and poetry of the work as well as the author's original passion and meaning."
Geoff Webb added that "we are delighted that our Simultext® System has found another home in New York, our systems are used in leading opera houses around the world where audiences follow a live performance in the language most comfortable to them. We trust to you will find our Simultext® System a valuable companion as you attend future Repertorio Español performances."
