By MELANIE ARMSTRONG
megan@du2.byu.edu
'Pictures in the Air.' 'Ballet with Words.' 'Poetry in the Air.' These phrases have all been used to describe signed theater.
Sign theater takes the thoughts of a playwright, sends them through the mind and body of the signer. The voice actor reads the signs and speaks the words to the world.
Sign theater isn't just a play done for the deaf. It is its own art form.
'Sign theater is an incredible artistic medium,' said Jon Joslow, executive director of the National Theater of the Deaf. 'Had it not been for deafness, it wouldn't be here. It makes one realize that there's power in not having the same thing that everyone else has.'
Deaf theater forces the actor to get on stage and grab the audience visually, without using words.
There is a difference between sign-language theater and deaf theater. Sign theater uses scripts written by hearing writers about the hearing world. Deaf theater uses scripts about deaf people and deaf culture.
It is usually performed in American Sign Language by deaf actors.
The NTD uses sign theater to integrate the voicing and signing actors. They perform a theatrical version of ASL.
Beth Prather, tour director for NDT, said the signs and gestures are bigger, just as the spoken word is larger in traditional theater.
Cynthia Bloodgood, a senior from Paso Robles, Calif., did a signed production for a directing project. She adapted a scene from 'The Magician's Nephew.'
In the scene a voice actor shadowed each sign actor. The 'voicer' dramatically spoke what the signer signed. The signer and voicer dressed alike to prevent confusion.
The NTD also uses voicers and actors.
'When you see a little theater production by the National Theater of the Deaf, four actors tell the story, three of whom are deaf,' Prather said.
The fourth actor voices for the others and signs his or her own role.
While it seems like the show might be a little complicated to follow, once the audience relaxes into the play, the use of voicers seem logical and useful.
'The signing is surprisingly easy to follow. I thought it might be confusing, but I could watch the signer and still hear the interpretation,' said Kayla Deru, a senior from Ogden majoring in English.
At a signed play, hearing audiences experience how deaf audiences feel when they can't understand the dialogue. Bloodgood used speakers to make the play accessible to deaf and hearing audiences.
'The voicers are there for the 'signing-impaired,'' Bloodgood said.
Adapting the script can be challenging. For example, there can be no audio cues.
In 'The Magician's Nephew' a bell rings. Since deaf people cannot hear a bell ring, they felt the vibrations of the bell. Or, instead of saying 'I hear something,' the signers say 'What's that?' These changes make the script believable.
Though the voicers interpreted for a hearing audience, the focus of the play was on the signers.
'Sometimes the voicers would emphasize the action of the signer by position or action, but it was always the signers who were interacting and doing and saying,' Bloodgood said. 'They were the focus, and I wanted to keep that.'
The cast of 'The Magician's Nephew' included two deaf actors, several hearing actors who knew some sign language, and one actor who had no experience in sign. To keep the focus, even during rehearsals all actors used sign language.
'It wasn't about hearing people doing things in sign language,' Bloodgood said. 'It was about doing something in sign language that you can put on stage.'
Sign theater serves the deaf community first. Jack Rose, an ASL teacher at BYU, explained that ASL is the language that is most accepted by members of the deaf community.
'Languages and cultures are inseparable,' Rose said.
Through sign theater, members of the deaf community can share ideas and create art.
'Sign theater is poetry without spoken words,' Joslow said. 'Poetry that doesn't matter whether you can hear or not.'
The hearing actors also benefit from performing sign theater.
Denise Erekson, a senior from San Antonio, Texas, majoring in linguistics, said performing in 'The Magician's Nephew' gave her confidence in her signing abilities.
'It helped me improve my skills for signing and made signing become fun for me,' she said.
Sign theater is for deaf and hearing actors, as well as both kinds of audiences.
'It's a creative medium that's inspirational to deaf and hearing people,' Joslow said.
Bloodgood hopes that creating a play that deaf and hearing people can understand and enjoy will create a common ground between the deaf and hearing communities.
'I don't think this was done only for the deaf community. It was for everybody,' Bloodgood said.
Joslow believes that sign theater will erase some of the stereotypes that deaf people are awkward or inferior.
'Deaf theater gives all people a medium that they can appreciate at a variety of levels,' Joslow said. 'The tag of disability is wiped off.'
He told the story of Chester, Conn. Since the NTD moved to Chester in 1982, most of the 5,000 residents have learned some ASL. Now, most of the people stand around on the sidewalk and chat in sign.
'It's building bridges,' Bloodgood said. 'If you can laugh at the same thing, enjoy the same thing or cry at the same thing, then all of the sudden you've got a common ground, and the fact that you have or don't have is not so important.'
Joslow also believes that sign theater can be used to educate all children.
'ASL is using the left side and right side of the brain to communicate,' he said. 'If there was a structured way to teach it, sign theater could be used in the classroom as a catalyst for improvement.'
Bloodgood said she would like to see more sign theater productions in Utah. She believes, though, that the movement needs to be initiated by a member of the deaf community.
'Being part of the Deaf -- with capital 'D' -- is being part of the minority. I don't want to have the majority doing things for the minority. That's stupid,' she said.
Sign theater alone cannot change all of society's misconceptions of the deaf, but it's a start.
'Art seems to come before change,' Joslow said.