By Kirsten Robbins

My husband and I enjoyed an open-captioned showing of The Seattle Rep’s The Play That Went Wrong on September 24, 2025. Since we were given the tickets the day-of, we didn’t have to do any preplanning. We just showed up at Will Call to claim our transferred tickets.

Three lines of live captions were visible from our seats, #14 and #15 in Row K. Captions were to the right of the stage. Technically, anyone could see the captions, but when you’re choosing seats, I’d suggest seats on the right side of the theater no more than halfway up for optimum viewing.

At this performance, the captions were very accurate and fast, which helped us understand the play. Typically, the Rep has one open captioned showing of each play, usually near the end of the run on a less popular attendance day. Their website has a schedule of plays that are open captioned. Through the end of this year, there are open-captioned shows on October 19, December 11, and December 17, 2025.

The venue is looped, but I don’t have a looped program yet so could not test it. If you have a telecoil in your hearing aid or CI, you can use the loops during the performances and at ticket windows, concierge, and concessions.

Getting there: Getting to the Seattle Center can be tricky. Option 1 is to drive, pay to park, and deal with traffic. Option 2 is to light rail or bus it to the Westlake Station and take the monorail into Seattle Center. Option 3 is to light rail or bus it to International District and take bus route 1 to Seattle Center. Light rail stations are all wheelchair friendly and have elevators. Most buses have kneeling entrances, so they are walker friendly. I could understand most of the announcements on the light rail. There is neon signage announcing stops.

About the Author

Kirsten Robbins has bilateral cochlear implants and enjoys live music, live plays, museums, cultural events, travel, movies, and streaming music, shows, and movies.