Saturday, 4 June 2016

Deaf Actress and Deaf Actors


Image result for spring awakening


This January, 2016 is called "Spring Awakening" in New York, New York , 256 West 47th Street are actress Marlee Matlin (from Switch at Birth) and Camryn Manheim (from The Practice) and actor Daniel Durant (from Switch at Birth).

The Boarding's Books Atkinson Theatre, is based on a 1891 Frank Wedekind play of the same name. The musical, examining teenage sexuality on late 19th Century Germany, won 8 Tony Awards in it first Broadway run in 2006. 

I didn't go because I am not excepting and I had good reasons.




This April 28th - May 15th, 2016 is called "Ultrasound" in Toronto, Ontario  are actress  Elizabeth Morris and actor Chris Dodd.

She went to Gallaudent University from 2000 - 2004.

I didn't go and Deaf Ottawa didn't go, either.

Ultrasound begins with Alphonse a deaf accountant, surprising his wife, Miranda, a hard-of-hearing actress, with a sonnet for her 29th birthday.
It’s Sonnet 29, and Alphonse delivers it, with gestural eloquence, in American Sign Language, as Shakespeare’s words are projected behind him “When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes. He adds a knowing look when the protagonist troubles “deaf heaven” with his “bootless cries,” and he somehow found his version more stirring than most recitations of the poem.
It wasn’t dance. It wasn’t mime. It was embodied poetry, felt and physicalized, and a delight to watch – even if you don’t understand ASL.
Early on in Ultrasound then, playwright Adam Pottle is laying the groundwork for the audience to agree with Alphonse when he later asserts, “Deaf isn’t a disability, it’s a culture.” But Alphonse, initially charmingly reserved, has become less than sympathetic at that point.
Ultrasound’s plot concerns what, at first, seems a rather banal conflict between partners. Miranda wants to have a baby before she turns 30, while Alphonse is in no rush. As it turns out, however, Alphonse only really wants to have a baby if it will grow up to be a part of his culture. As he explains, “Whenever a hearing person tries to talk to her, he feel weak.” He wants genetic testing done before he agrees to procreate.
That may already strain the inclusive sentiment of the hearing crowd. But it reaches the breaking point when, after a couple of white lies on Miranda’s part, she becomes pregnant with a baby that will likely not be deaf – and Alphonse asks her to have an abortion.
Miranda feels Alphonse has moved beyond deaf pride and transformed into a “deaf nationalist.” She may be losing her hearing and speech (a concern she seems to have largely channelled toward her womb), but she still identifies with the hearing world.
Theatre, particularly in the English-speaking world, has traditionally not been very welcoming to the deaf and the hard of hearing, prioritizing spoken language over visual communication.
 “You can take a deaf person to a movie; you can’t take a blind person. You can take a blind person to a play; you can’t take a deaf person.”
Sometimes helping hearing audience members follow the ASL dialogue, sometimes helping deaf spectators follow the spoken dialogue.
 In early scenes, in particular, Alphonse and Miranda lay out their disagreement in dialogue with little subtext. The central contrivance that the couple, well into their marriage, seem to have never seriously discussed the details of having kids before makes them seem ill-matched and immature and thus hard to invest in.
That fact that Dodd and Morris have little chemistry only makes their relationship seem that much more tragic. In the end, you may not want them to stay together and you may not like either of them, but their desire to stay together despite their awful behaviour feels honestly heart-wrenching.

This June 2nd, 2016  at 7:30pm - 9:30pm my daughter Isabella and I went to saw and Tommy - ASL Interpreted Performance at Centrepointe Theatre Ben Franklin Place 101 Centrepointe Drive.

We had 2 hearing Interpreters, 1 Deaf Interpreter, 3 hearing plus Isabella , 7 deaf people's plus me are totals 15 peoples.
We got free tickets by Deaf Community.

Orpheus Musical  Theatre Society Presents 

The Who's Tommy

Based on the icon 1969 rock concept album. The who's Tommy is an exhilarating story of hope, healing, and the human spirit. After witnessing the murder of his mother's lover by his father, young  Tommy is traumatized into a catatonic state. As he grows, he suffers abuse at the hands of his dysfunctional relatives and neighbors. As an adolescent, he's discovered to have an uncanny knack for playing pinball. With the help of his mother he finally breaks through his catatonia and becomes an international pinball superstar.  The story of the pinball-playing, deaf, dumb and blind boy who triumphs over his adversities has inspired, amazed and  puzzled audiences for more than forty years. This 5 time Tony Award-winning musical was translated to the stage by theatrical wizard  Des McAnuff into a high-energy, one-of-a-kind theatrical event.


I got Nepean - Barrhaven News from newspaper.



We got free tickets.


Wednesday, 1 June 2016

Deaf Principal


Janice Drake is the first ever graduate from Sir James Whitney School for the Deaf in Belleville to become the school's principal. She is seen here in her office Friday.
     Janice Drake's Deaf Principal Office 

Janice Drake is the first graduate from Belleville's Ontario school for the deaf to return as its principal. When she held her first assembly last September 6th, 2013, it had been 30 years since her graduation in 1983.
After graduating from Sir James, she  went to Gallaudet University in Washington, DC, which is the only liberal arts university in the world for deaf people,” said the 49-year-old principal and former teacher through Dale Abel's voice, one of Sir James' American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters.
Before attending Gallaudet, she noted she had a “really strong” feeling that she wanted to be a teacher. It became one of her goals in life.
She went off to university and got my BA for education and then went off to British Columbia to get a special certificate for the deaf, at which point she worked at Robarts School for the Deaf in London, Ontario, where she taught for a number of years.
Sir James Whitney School for the Deaf is located at 350 Dundas Street. West, on the historic campus of the first school for deaf students in Ontario, founded in 1870. The present school building and residence have been skilfully and carefully restored in recent years.
When she enter the doors of Sir James Whitney, she can sense the history and feel the excitement of our commitment to learning excellence.
The school provides a bilingual environment for 70 students, where language and literacy are promoted in both ASL and English. 
The language of instruction and communication at Sir James is ASL, but on an individual level, students can access tutorials in ASL, as well as in spoken English, she said.
After holding different positions at London's school for deaf, she went on to E.C. Drury School for the Deaf in Milton, Ont., where she acted as vice-principal for the high school.
When the (former) principal of Sir James (Linda Ritchey) retired she  felt there was an opportunity for me to apply and she was hired for this school, 30 years after she graduated, she said with pride.
Born deaf, she and her family lived in Belleville for nine years while her father was serving in the Royal Canadian Air Force at 8 Wing/CFB Trenton, before moving to the Toronto area.
There are many people who misunderstand the reasons (behind deafness) or the kinds of deafness. Some people like her are born deaf, while others have lost their hearing, they have been deafened. There are different identifications, she said.
She is responsible for both elementary and secondary schools at Sir James Whitney. She is currently enjoying her “honeymoon” as the school's new principal.

She graduated last June 1983 from Sir James Whitney School for the Deaf in Belleville, Ontario then she became new Principal last 2013 to retired June, 2019.
Last June, 2019 she was retired at Sir James Whitney School for the Deaf at Principal. 

MY COMMENTS 1: I remember that was my first  Principal Gary Gervis last September 1979 - June 1986 but already retired  and Janice was new Principal.

MY COMMENTS 2: He was attended last September 1974 to retired June 1994 for 20 years.
                           Obituary: