Interview with Shoshannah Stern from “Grey’s Anatomy”
THE DAILY MOTH:
Hello, Shoshannah Stern. Congratulations on your role on Grey’s Anatomy.
STERN:
Hi, thank you for taking the time to interview me! It’s fun for me whenever I describe my experience playing Dr. Lauren Riley in ASL!
[ABC video promo of Dr. Riley.]
THE DAILY MOTH:
How do you prepare yourself in taking on that role as a doctor?
STERN:
How I prepared myself to play a deaf doctor was a whole process in itself. First, I wanted to make sure that I truly understood the definition behind each terminology being used. For example, suppose I wanted to say, “pericardial window”, but I can’t actually sign the word that we use for windows in buildings. I had to research what this term really meant and that’s how I found out that ‘pericardial’ is the sac that lines the heart. ‘Window’ in this instance actually means ‘incision’ and this all helped me understand.
[Image of a pericardium]
STERN:
I did have to memorize a lot of words! I typically use a strategy that I use for studying for exams. I use acronyms like PCW for ‘Pericardial Window’. I’d be driving along and fingerspell the words until I felt confident.
[Video tweet from @GreysABC that shows a clip of Dr. Lauren Riley using ASL via an interpreter on a tablet to talk with a colleague and a patient]
THE DAILY MOTH:
In the show, your character Dr. Riley did use a VRI (Video Relay Interpreter) as a communication tool. Also, your character used her voice to communicate and you wore those surgical masks that were transparent so you could lipread. Could you explain the thought process between you and your team in deciding to use these tools?
STERN:
We researched a lot about deaf doctors and how they use these tools then we turned over the data to the show’s writers way in advance. It was maybe 3 months before the show was finalized. I ended up getting a script just before the show, maybe a week or less, before we started filming so there was not a lot of time. They seemed to have interviewed most of the doctors and asked them questions on their own. I’m happy they did that. Most of the deaf doctors they reached out would usually speak or lipread. So, with the little time we had, they asked me if I would speak and lipread. Well, consider that most of the characters that I took on would speak and lipread. However, for this particular situation, I really wanted her to sign because I thought it suited this character very nicely. She is a doctor who works with bodies and she connects with people, so it was important for this character to use sign language. But it was not possible for an interpreter to be cast because it was so last minute. When it comes to producing TV shows, you just don’t have the time. So, I had to think of options, and it looked like my character could choose to not sign at all or something else that I thought of. I thought, why not have Dr. Riley call her staff interpreter on FaceTime. It’s not VRI, but FaceTime. Because I feel that since Dr. Riley worked at UCSF, she would have an interpreter there. However, my research seemed to show that doctors — typically they wouldn’t release staff interpreters to fly out because the interpreters were being paid by their employing hospitals.
That works too because they didn’t have to find an interpreter with the little time we had. When it comes to TV production, you just never have enough time. So that’s how we ended up using the staff interpreter through Skype because it turns out the Grey’s Anatomy already had a contract with Skype so we can’t use FaceTime.
[Tweet by @Shoshannah7 showing images of Dr. Riley and another doctor wearing a face mask with clear panels]
That special plastic mask was decided on long before I met all the writers in the room with the showrunner, Krista Vernoff. I brought along research because the cool thing about these deaf doctors is, they typically will do research on technology that isn’t accessible, like facemasks, and they would make the masks themselves. Also, another man by the name of Philip Zazove who is one of the first deaf doctors, I think the third one ever, he invented visual stethoscopes that will blink or something which is very cool just like those facemasks! Facemasks are used all the time in hospitals so I asked the show’s producers these facemasks would be included. When I showed up at the set, they had those masks ready among the props. I was so thrilled! That was really an amazing day for everyone, not just me, who’d never seen these facemasks before! It was so much fun and even the makeup people were in awe of these special facemasks! I hope that people will see these and that it gets the exposure it needs like many other things that we can provide deaf people. Hopefully we can provide a multitude of options for deaf patients, so they’re allowed to choose for themselves.
DAILY MOTH:
What kind of impact do you think you’ve made on your career and on deaf actors in general?
STERN:
When it comes to the impact I’ve made on myself and others, I’m not really sure. What I do hope for is more collaboration. I feel that that the Grey’s Anatomy episodes, for example, wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t have a chance to meet up, collaborate and talk with the showrunners and writers ahead of time. The writers need the time to write the script and give me the draft to review before I provide any sort of feedback. I felt that the research showed that deaf doctors are strong and independent. For her character, being deaf is just an extra incentive for her to be more successful.
[Tweet by @Shoshannah7 of an image of herself with Julie Wong, a writer for the show]
Most people haven’t met a deaf person in their lives so what they envision might be different from reality. People are often so impressed by how the deaf doctors have overcome challenges despite all their experiences and obstacles. That isn’t the point and often when people see doctors overcoming obstacles for the first time, they don’t realize that deaf doctors already overcome obstacles every day. It’s the people around the deaf doctors who have never even met a deaf person before and just learning how to communicate with them. So, I hope that people see collaboration as being important. With television and film, there are so many people involved, and we all have to collaborate with each other. Often it can get to the point where people “stay in their own lane,” but when it comes to incorporating a deaf character, I think it’s important to start the collaboration from the very beginning and stick together throughout the whole process. I hope that this experience will be an example of that collaboration moving forward. I would like to see more and more characters like that and more opportunities for all deaf people everywhere, not just on the screen but also in hospitals. We need more deaf people employed in hospitals doing their thing, you know? At least that’s what I hope for.
DAILY MOTH:
Thank you very much for your time and congratulations on your major role.
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***To watch Shoshannah Stern play Dr. Lauren Riley:
S16, E13: https://abc.com/shows/greys-anatomy/episode-guide/season-16/13-save-the-last-dance-for-me
S16, E14: https://abc.com/shows/greys-anatomy/episode-guide/season-16/14-a-diagnosis