“Carrot-top!”
Fans of the classic book “Anne of Green Gables” know that this taunt sets off the red-headed Anne (with an “E”), who responds to her classmate’s teasing by breaking a blackboard over his head. Chaos erupts in the classroom.
The scene, as presented by a community theatre in Burlington, North Carolina, added another layer of chaos. Two sets of actors were caught up in the fray, fighting in two languages – English and American Sign Language (ASL). Natalie Griffin, who played Anne Shirley, is deaf. She signed all her lines while interpreter Maddie Almers – now a student at UNC Greensboro – spoke those same lines beside her.
“Anne of Green Gables” was performed by Studio 1 as a shadow play, designed for a deaf or hard-of-hearing audience. Some of the actors could hear; others were deaf. They are each paired with an interpreter – known as a “shadow” or a “terp” – who provided sign language or verbal speech. They worked with Interpreting, Deaf Education and Advocacy Services (IDEAS) in UNCG’s School of Education to make it happen.
At Studio 1, It Takes Two
IDEAS faculty members Glenda Torres and the recently retired Lynne Allen pitched shadow plays to Studio 1’s executive director Tami Kress. “Lynne’s daughter was in a show, and they came to see her performance,” Kress recalls. “They said, ‘Hey, would you be interested in doing this?’ I thought, ‘I don’t know anything about it, but you know what? Let’s do it.’ And the rest is history.'”
Instead of placing an interpreter on the side, shadow plays have the interpreters follow the actors around the stage. The audience can fully immerse themselves in the performances because they do not have to “ping pong” their attention. It was a stellar opportunity for Studio 1 to expand its audience while giving students time to shine before graduation. Many of the terps are students recruited by the IDEAS faculty.
“When you’re a newer student, a freshman or sophomore, you get a lot of content-based courses, learning terminology and context,” says IDEAS major Josie Maita, who shadowed the character Ruby. “And sometimes you’re like, ‘Man, I just want to go out and do it.’ This is something for a student to look forward to.”
Maita originally planned to watch one of the shadow plays from the audience. Then she got an email from Assistant Professor Frank Griffin. “It said, ‘We need interpreters for Anne of Green Gables.’ I knew he was having a class downstairs, and so I ran down there and asked, ‘Are there still spots? Can I do the play?’ He said, ‘Yes. You need to be at rehearsal tonight at seven.'”
Almers’ first role as a terp was in Studio 1’s “The Little Mermaid.” She says those bonds she formed inspired her to enroll at UNCG to study ASL interpretation.
“That was surely a role and a production in general that had such a big impact on me and my knowledge of the Deaf Community,” says Almers. “Studio 1’s inclusivity led to me finding my passion for ASL and immersing myself in that community.”
Kress has directed for years, but she says there was a learning curve for staging ASL shadowed plays. She remembers the nervousness of both actors and interpreters going into their first production, but they clicked by the end of the first rehearsal.
“I don’t know how to explain it,” she says. “Everyone just realized, ‘We are like-minded people. We are all thinking outside of the box together.’ And it just took off from there. It was this cool meeting of worlds.”
Shadow Waltz
Studio 1 has a three-sided “thrust stage.” That means the actors must direct their performance in three directions while their interpreters focus their hands and faces toward the center section where the hard-of-hearing audience sits. Griffin, Torres, and Allen would sit in the gallery to make sure the interpreters were visible.
“My actress, Mackenzie, was a little spitfire,” says Maita. “She talked incredibly fast. And so, sometimes I wasn’t moving my hands fast enough. So, Frank would say, ‘You have to condense more.'”
Maita also learned how to emote alongside Mackenzie. “The character of Ruby cries a lot. She stomps, she squeals,” she says. “Facial expressions are really important in ASL. I had to use the facial expressions that I don’t typically use when I’m signing, the facial expressions that I see children use.”
Kress always tells her actors to put thought into their character’s personality. Even if they don’t have a single line, she expects them to express that personality in actions and reactions. She brought the IDEAS students into the process.
“I love how they came together,” she says. “In one scene, Natalie had to throw herself onto her bed. They come up with the idea for Natalie to throw herself into Maddie’s lap, and Maddie would comfort her. They were like best friends, but also the same person.”
Coming Attractions
IDEAS students will return to the stage in the Holly Hill Mall on November 15-17 for “Blithe Spirit,” Studio 1’s 13th shadow play production.
Kress says they picked this play based on feedback from the Deaf Community. “This year, they suggested we do a physical comedy,” she says. “A guy’s wife dies, and then he’s getting remarried, and she comes back as a ghost to try and chase off the new girlfriend.”
Kress is grateful for the chance to deliver the theater experience to more people. “I love making theater accessible. It has always been one of my passions. Making it accessible to the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community really is an art form of its own.”
Maita is graduating in December, and she hopes the shadow plays will continue with future IDEAS students. She says, “When you’re an interpreter, you get to join so many different worlds. This was definitely a blast.”
Story by Janet Imrick, University Communications
Photography courtesy of Studio 1
