Deaf News Briefs: “Autocorrect Thinks I’m Dead” Performance; Two Deaf actors in “Romeo and Juliet” production
***Correction: "Autocorrect Thinks I'm Dead" is performed at 12th Avenue Arts in Seattle, not at the Sound Theatre Company in Bellevue. Sound Theatre Company produces the show but the performances aren't hosted there.
Here are two Deaf News briefs.
“Autocorrect Thinks I’m Dead” Performance
The first is an article on Crosscut.com about Aimee Chou, a Deaf playwright based in Seattle. She wrote a horror-comedy play called “Autocorrect Thinks I’m Dead” that premieres tonight at the Sound Theatre Company in Bellevue, Washington.
The play is about three Deaf roommates who discover an old TTY device and get mysterious messages from Alexander Graham Bell (AGB) after playing with an Ouija board. It is directed by Howie Seago and stars Brittany Rupik, Kai Winchester, and Phelan Conheady.
Chou told Crosscut.com that she was inspired to use AGB because of his history of oppression on sign language and wanted to visualize what he would say if he could see Deaf people today, signing, texting, and marrying other Deaf people.
The production has a majority-Deaf and Hard of Hearing cast and creative team. A Deaf set designer, Ethan Sinnott, and a Deaf lighting designer, Annie Wiegand, were hired for this production.
The play is bilingual — it includes ASL, spoken English, and English captioning.
If you’re in the Seattle area and are curious about attending, I’ve included a link for more information on tickets and dates.
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Two Deaf actors in “Romeo and Juliet” production
The second Deaf News brief is a report from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Deaf actor Josh Castille has the lead role of Romeo in a production of “Romeo and Juliet” at the American Players Theatre in Spring Green, Wisconsin. Performances started on August 11 and will continue into October 7.
The play’s description says Romeo is deaf and Juliet is hearing and fall in love even though they speak different languages. The production merges both ASL and spoken lines.
There is another Deaf actor — Robert Schleifer, who plays Friar Lawrence.
The article explained that Castille worked with the play’s director to adapt Shakespeare’s text into ASL. The play has a creative way to interpret the ASL dialogue — by having a “friend” of the character appear onstage to voice whatever they are signing. When Romeo is alone and talking, cast members standing in the aisles voice the lines.
The production hired Deaf-Friendly Consulting to train the production team and make them prepared to work with deaf people.
There is captioning available for deaf audience members and there are three upcoming performances with full ASL interpretation on September 27, October 1, and October 3. For more information, check out the website at the link in the transcript.
That’s the two Deaf News briefs for today.
“Autocorrect Thinks I’m Dead”: https://soundtheatrecompany.org/2023-season/autocorrect-thinks-im-dead/
Crosscut Article: https://crosscut.com/culture/2023/09/seattle-playwright-aimee-chou-shares-deaf-culture-through-humor
“Romeo and Juliet:” https://americanplayers.org/plays/romeo-juliet