Little Lake teams up with School for the Deaf for ASL production of “Captain Louie Jr.’
Learning your lines, getting your blocking down, making sure your voice is being heard in the last row. Those are all standard parts of the prep work before appearing in a theatrical production.
For its upcoming staging of 鈥淐aptain Louie Jr.,鈥� Little Lake Theatre in North Strabane has added another element to the mix 鈥� its cast members who can hear must learn sign language.
鈥淲e ask a lot of deaf children,鈥� said Jena Oberg, Little Lake鈥檚 former artistic director and the director of 鈥淐aptain Louie Jr.鈥� She pointed out how children with hearing impairments have to learn to navigate in a world designed for hearing, and so 鈥渨e sort of turn the tables with this project.鈥�
For the first time in its long history, Little Lake is teaming up with the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf for a production. Oberg pointed out that deaf performers appearing in community theater presentations is extremely uncommon 鈥� she is unaware of one that has ever attempted it before. There are theater companies in the United States and elsewhere in the world that use sign language and the spoken word, such as the Deaf West Theatre in Los Angeles and the National Theater of the Deaf in Connecticut.
A children鈥檚 musical written by Stephen Schwartz, the creator of 鈥淲icked鈥� and 鈥淕odspell,鈥� 鈥淐aptain Louie Jr.鈥� is based on the children鈥檚 book 鈥淭he Trip,鈥� and is about making new friends. The cast of 鈥淐aptain Louie Jr.鈥� is divided between 13 hearing cast members and eight cast members from the School for the Deaf. It鈥檚 being presented in spoken English and American Sign Language (ASL). Once the hearing cast members were put in place, they had to take a 10-week ASL course.
According to Oberg, 鈥淲e took a group of hearing actors and said, you鈥檙e going to learn a whole new language system, and you鈥檙e going to be in a school when adults sign, and you鈥檙e going to be asked to do an activity that you love, but you have to accommodate others.鈥�
She added, 鈥淥ften we don鈥檛 pay attention to the pragmatic aspect of language. We pay more attention to the words. So (audiences) will be asked to listen to the story a little differently or experience the story a little differently, which is a cool experience.鈥�
Some of the costs for the production have been covered through assistance from Pennsylvania Neighborhood Assistance Program and the PNC Foundation. A $16,500 tax credit was awarded to Charleroi-based LaCarte Enterprises for its support of the production. Oberg hopes 鈥淐aptain Louie Jr.鈥� is the first in a series of collaborations with the School for the Deaf.
鈥淚f it鈥檚 possible for that to happen in the future, I think that would be really great. I would love to have more opportunities. It鈥檚 very rare that a deaf child can go into an activity outside the school and participate.鈥�
Next Thursday night鈥檚 premiere performance of 鈥淐aptain Louie Jr.鈥� is sold out. Additional performances are scheduled for Friday, Oct. 7 at 7 p.m.; Saturday, Oct. 8 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.; and Sunday, Oct. 9 at 2 p.m.
For additional information go online to www.littlelake.org or call 724-745-6300.