There is a high school production
"West Side Story," in Mi
ami area involving two gangs, hearing versus Deaf, Jets (without Brett Favre) versus Sharks, creative isn't it, here are some videos available from various sources, since they were already broadcasted, so they ought to be closed-captioned.
CBS 4, Miami
Miami Herald
BY NIRVI SHAH AND KIRSTIN MAGUIRE
nshah@MiamiHerald.comIn this version of the classic Broadway musical West Side Story, Maria falls in love with Tony without saying a word.
Instead, her hands do the singing -- by signing.
South Plantation High school's 2008 version of the nearly 50-year-old tale stars deaf and hearing students who, together, have spun an entirely new theatrical confection.
In the classic, the Puerto Rican Sharks and the 'American' Jets spar for control over the neighborhood. But Maria, sister of Sharks leader Bernardo, falls in love with Tony, a former Jet.
In this version, the culture clash goes beyond ethnicity: The Sharks are also deaf.
After months of planning, practicing and learning sign language, the show opened this week and continues through next weekend.
Maria is played by junior Giovanna Vazquez, who signs her parts, and junior Kellie Smith, who matches her voice to Giovanna's hands.
Tony's role belongs to senior Justin White, who has learned to sign, sing and act all at once.
South Plantation is where most of Broward's hard-of-hearing and deaf high school students -- about 40 -- attend classes.
''We've used American Sign Language as another form of communication. Every word, every song, is signed,'' said drama teacher Jason Zembuch, who started incorporating deaf students into school theater productions about five years ago.
Giovanna, Kellie and Justin had to work painstakingly to perfect their timing.
''You have to make your hands look like they're singing,'' said Justin, who has never had a role in a musical before, much less one so complex. ``The audience wants to know you're not just talking.''
IMPORTANT DETAILS
The League for the Hearing Impaired also offered advice, pointing out little details that can make a big difference to deaf members of the audience, said Allyson Dudich, the group's education coordinator.
The director ''had to make sure that everybody is seen fully from the front because they're using their hands,'' Dudich said. ``People in the audience are not going to get anything from the story if they can't see.''
Deaf cast members also helped make sure hearing characters' roles appear authentic.
Senior Frank Gonzalez -- who is not deaf -- plays Bernardo, Maria's brother.
''It's one of the best parts I've ever played,'' said Frank, 18, who now finds himself signing all the time. ``I can express myself just through my hands.''
It took him a while to get to that point, he said. ''I used to move my mouth a lot -- I'm not supposed to,'' he said.
This production is changing the dynamics at South Plantation, Dudich said. ''Historically, there's really been a separation, and deaf kids haven't really immersed themselves with the rest of the students,'' she said.
''For the lead role to be one of the deaf students, it starts to change everything. Everyone sees how talented [the deaf] are and how they can do everything everyone else can except hear,'' Dudich said.
Giovanna said she never considered acting until she met Zembuch.
''They have really worked with me,'' she said. ``I've learned a lot from this.''
Besides using deaf students and sign language -- the entire production is signed by three different students -- the production is infused with deaf culture. When Tony comes for Maria at the fire escape, she cannot hear him calling. So he shakes the ladder so she can feel its vibration.
When Maria's father calls her from offstage, the lights flash to indicate it.
NEW OPPORTUNITIES
High schools rarely put on deaf theater productions, said Aaron Kubey, executive director and president of the National Theatre of the Deaf.
``It means a lot to me that the school is willing to find a challenge -- a learning experience -- and show people that we really can be actors, we can do theater.''
Dudich credits director Zembuch with opening up a new career field for her students.
'What deaf kid would have thought `Hey, I'm going to go into theater sound and lighting?' The more people that open up and bring these kids in just shows that these kids can do what everybody else can do.''
But Kellie, who had the script for her dream role memorized months ago, was skeptical of Zembuch's concept at first.
''What? You split Maria apart?'' she remembers thinking. ``Now, I love it. I think it's genius.''
Zembuch, too, has learned sign language, and fires off instructions comfortably with his hands from the stage back to the control booth, where deaf senior Jesse Whitelaw is working lights.
''Jason expects the same from them as he does from everybody else,'' said interpreter Helene Cohn, ``which doesn't happen a lot in the real world.''
In the scene where Tony declares his love for Maria, actors Justin and Giovanna are on the fire escape. On the ground, Kellie sings Maria's lines:
''Tonight, tonight,'' she sings.
Justin's right hand signs in tandem with Giovanna's left:
``Tonight, tonight. The world is wild and bright.''
ABC NEWS
Washington (DEF) A Deaf hunter was arrested yesterday for trespassing at Camp David. Secret Service spokesman stated that he's no threat to the President since he's at the economic summit in Europe. Bob, the Deaf man parole was revoked for possession of a firearm, even though he have a license to hunt. Felons don't have the rights that we citizens have taken for granted, regardless Camp David is off-limits. According to Bob's wife, "he was upset that he didn't get a pardon, which then President Clinton granted to a turkey, while he was in prison." Secret Service confirmed that he was after a particular turkey,
Barabbass, that irked
him. George W. Bush pardoned a turkey that recently left for Disney World. If Ben Franklin had his way, the turkey would have been our national symbol, rather then the bald eagle, with its protected status. In a video released to the media, Barabbas was gobbling up food, while Socks, the White House feline, being disgusted at the intruder. Bob returned to prison to serve out the rest of his sentence. Legal Aid sources indicated that Bob once tried to get an injunction to stop the annual Presidential tradition of pardoning a turkey before Thanksgiving. Deaf advocates have filed several discrimination complaints on his behalf, that rehabilitation services weren't accessible to him, because the prison failed to provide him with an interpreter. Legal Aid were not able to communicate with him either as the prison don't have a tty device. "I agreed with him that a turkey have more rights than inmates," John, a free-lance writer working on Bob's biography. Unfortunately, several days later, Bob was killed after escaping into the wood overnight, mistook being a turkey, after failing to response to a call from a hunter that shot him hiding in the bushes.
