LITCHFIELD - One of the last drive-in movie theaters in the region will be showing “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” with subtitles on Thursday, July 6.
The Route 66 Skyview Drive-In Theater, located on Route 66 in Litchfield, will also have interpreters onsite. Owner Chelsey Semplowski said she received a message from a regular customer who is hard of hearing, which sparked the idea.
Get The Latest News!
Don't miss our top stories and need-to-know news everyday in your inbox.
“He messaged me on Facebook asking if this would be something we’d be interested in. And with us being new owners, we thought it wouldn’t hurt to try something new,” Semplowski said. Once they got the go-ahead from the movie studio, they were “all in and super excited to try this out and see what happens.”
Semplowski took over the drive-in with her husband and brother in late April. As the season continues, she hopes that this event will be well-received and lead to future subtitled screenings.
American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters will be available at the tickets and concession stands. In preparation for the screening, the drive-in contacted Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and Southwestern Illinois College. The colleges connected them with ASL students, who have to complete several interpreting hours to earn their degrees and were eager to be involved.
“We were all on board so everybody could understand each other and we didn’t have any hiccups throughout the night. We’re super excited to have them on board with us, too,” Semplowski said of the students.
The Skyview Drive-In is the only original drive-in theater left in the U.S. Their season runs from May to October with several movie showings every week. Tickets are $7, and kids under age 6 are free.
Semplowski said many more events are in the works. She is hopeful that tomorrow’s event is well-attended, and she hopes to organize more subtitled screenings soon.
“If this turns out to be a good thing and we get a lot of interest and people show up tomorrow night, we talked about making it at least maybe a monthly thing, and having students come out to give them volunteer hours, and just making it more of an accessible thing for the hearing-impaired,” she explained.
For more information about the historic Route 66 Skyview Drive-In, including their summer movie schedule, visit their website. To learn more about Thursday’s subtitled screening, check out the Facebook event.
More like this:
