---
title: ‘Creative Captioning’ Takes the Stage at UMD
date: 2025-04-18T05:30:00-04:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/creative-captioning-takes-the-stage-at-umd"
section: Articles
---
# ‘Creative Captioning’ Takes the Stage at UMD

*April 18, 2025* — by [Jessica Weiss ’05](/author/jessica-weiss-05)


> MFA Student Leads Effort to Expand Accessibility for Audience in ‘Hip Hop Anansi’

*250417 Hip Hop Anansi Taneen Momeni12 1920x1080 — The cast of "Hip Hop Anansi" includes (from left) Spray (Chiso Obichere), Worm (Hannah Alisse Collins), Anansi (William Nash), Gab (Mason Minus), Two Turn (Trevor MacWilliams) and Ah-ight (Sophie Bagheri). The captions projected behind each actor illustrate character-specific fonts and color palettes.*

Past University of Maryland theater productions have offered deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences tools like American Sign Language interpretation and captioning apps to follow along. A School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies (TDPS) production opening Friday at The Clarice is taking accessibility to a new level.

In “Hip Hop Anansi,” a lively, rhythm-packed performance for young audiences, captions are projected in real time as part of the set design, transforming dialogue into a vibrant visual element. Each character is assigned a custom font and color palette that matches the show’s aesthetic and is choreographed with the onstage action. The captions move, too—wiggling when a character laughs or swelling in size when someone shouts.

“The aim is that the caption happens as close to the performer as possible—not just for the thematic relationship, but so that an audience member isn’t having to look in two different places,” said Timothy Kelly, a third-year MFA student in theatre design leading the project as part of his thesis. “The captions have their own identity and style.”

While Deaf theater has long pioneered innovative approaches to accessibility, “Hip Hop Anansi” represents the first use of “creative captioning” at UMD—and one of the first examples in the D.C. metro area aimed at general audiences. It’s also a milestone for TDPS: its first production created specifically for young audiences, or “TYA”—a genre geared toward children and youth from kindergarten through 12th grade.



*an actor gestures on a stage while a caption is projected above her head — Actor Sophie Bagheri, who plays Ah-ight, appears in front of a caption with a character-specific font and color palette in "Hip Hop Anansi."*



**Sidebar note:**

 [Buy tickets](https://theclarice.umd.edu/events/2025/hip-hop-anansi) for “Hip Hop Anansi” at 7:30 p.m. April 18, 1 and 4 p.m. April 19, 7:30 p.m. April 25 and 11 a.m. April 26 (Maryland Day) in the Kogod Theatre at The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. The Maryland Day showing is free and unticketed.

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All through April, Maryland Today will celebrate how the University of Maryland is reimagining learning and teaching. Find more stories at [today.umd.edu/topic/we-reimagine-learning](https://today.umd.edu/topic/we-reimagine-learning).





**Topics:** [Arts & Culture](https://today.umd.edu/tags/arts-culture)


**Tags:** [Disability and Accessibility](https://today.umd.edu/topic/disability-and-accessibility), [Theatre, Dance & Performance Studies](https://today.umd.edu/topic/theatre-dance-performance-studies), [Student Experience](https://today.umd.edu/topic/student-experience), [Arts](https://today.umd.edu/topic/arts)


**Units:** [Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center](https://today.umd.edu/topic/clarice-smith-performing-arts-center), [College of Arts and Humanities](https://today.umd.edu/topic/college-arts-and-humanities)