GalaPro 4+

Not good for hard of hearing who want to follow the show! Too slow, too fast, intermittent, didn't work, did work, etc.

I am hearing impaired and was pleased to find out, a few weeks ago, that closed captioning was available for To Kill a Mockingbird in Orlando, through GalaPro. Unfortunately, it was a lesson in frustration. Setting it up and logging into the Wi-Fi was easy enough, but the captioning raced ahead or lagged behind or froze and skipped ahead and then the signal dropped. After reconnecting and having successful captioning for a few minutes it threw an error message that said the password was incorrect. I reconnected again and restarted the app, which remained out of synch with actual dialog for a few minutes and it disconnected again. At that point my (brand new) iPhone went back in my purse and I attempted as much lip reading as possible (not much).

Today my husband and I attended a different stage show at a different venue and during intermission I found out that captioning was available. After setting up my phone and logging in to the Wi-Fi, the app showed “intermission”. As the second act started, the screen changed to “End of Act 1” and then displayed the final line of the chorus that was sung at the end of that act. No Act 2 dialog ever appeared. I restarted the app and reconnected to the GalaPro Wi-Fi but that same last line of the prior act was all that appeared. Again, the phone went back in my purse. Maybe the third time will be the charm? Somehow, I doubt it.

I love this idea, but I feel like a few features could be added. I have an auditory processing disorder, meaning sometimes I hear something but don’t quite know what was said. I would love it if they could add a feature that makes it lag behind a few seconds! Also sometimes the subtitles were a bit too early and I would read it like 5-10 seconds before it was said. I love the idea and thank you to the developers for making theatre a little bit more accessible for people like me!