Friday, May 15, 2009

Choose Your Words

THE THIRD HOUSE
The Sun and Mercury sit in the 3rd House, the house of communication, rife with Taurean energy. A more physical expression of communication will develop prevalence and body language becomes increasingly important. Keep an eye out for what's happening around you in conversation.

Speaking of physical communication, I had an incredible privilege to attend dinner, theatre, and drinks in the company of hearing and Deaf friends. Nine people sat down to dinner; two Deaf friends, four hearing friends who have varying levels of sign, and three people who don't sign at all. The number of conversations that were flying around was dizzyingly intoxicating (perhaps that was the frozen margarita...). I'd turn from one spoken and signed conversation for the benefit of both parties to join a conversation on the other side being spoken only in sign to then be distracted back to the first conversation by voices. I did my best to keep up with the purely signed conversations and coordinate my signs with my stories (something even harder to do once the food was served). Fingers were flying, people were laughing, new friends were made.

Afterwards, I attended a production of Sign-Arella, a musical loosely based on Cinderella that, in fact, cites many fairy tales and nursery rhymes. It was the first time I'd ever seen a show that contained both Deaf and hearing actors. The leads were both Deaf; their voices were provided by musician/singers from the band. For the speaking actors, two interpreters sat near the front of the stage and signed. Thus, each character was voiced in two different ways. My friend, who is Deaf, was one of the actors and was absolutely fabulous. His performance was so expressive and was reminiscent of ballet; where a language so intricately connected to movement conveys meaning through specific position. This is not to say he was the only one to delight. The cast was a splendid array of talents and the script, full of puns, was filled with savory tidbits of youthful humor. It wasn't until afterwards that I learned that the Fairy Godmother was the one to write the script and suddenly it made sense (who else would picture a fairy godmother from Brooklyn?). There were numerous jokes that landed at different times as the sign caught up with the sound or vice-versa. I've seen many shows in my life, but I've never seen a show like I did tonight. It was awesome in the traditional sense of the word - awe inspiring.

Post show, I met a number of the actors in the show and we went out for drinks at The Duplex. Walking towards the bar, we ended up walking in pairs and I couldn't help but notice that each pair had one Deaf member and one hearing member. Everyone was signing and talking and just having a wonderful time. We all settled into the bar where there was live piano music and singing. Quickly, the bar began to fill up and the noise grew to a level such that the combination of music and voices made it hard to hear any kind of conversation. It was great to still be able to hold conversation across tables with my friends, old and newfound. I think it was one of the coolest evenings that I've enjoyed in my life.

Thank you to the cast of Sign-Arella and to my friends for such a delicious experience!

1 comment:

  1. Thank you for your kind words.

    Much Love,
    Kori
    (Fairy Godmother)

    ReplyDelete