 11:6
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Illuminate the Human Drama
through the Prism of Deaf Culture
“I write for the eye,” says author Willy Conley in his introduction to
Vignettes of
the Deaf Character and Other Plays, “always searching for live, mobile,
provocative images that would fill and illuminate the entire stage space with
the complexities, the pathos, and the humor involved when deaf and hearing
cultures merge or collide.” In Vignettes of the Deaf Character and Other
Plays, twelve of Conley’s pieces feature deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing
characters created from the Deaf perspective.
Intrinsic to the value of these vignettes is their variety: they include pieces
that are entirely signed, transcribed American Sign Language (ASL), and both monologues and dialogues in
English; they range from comic to tragic, tragicomic, and horror; their styles
are absurdist, naturalistic, clownish, surrealist, mimed, and theological; the
characters are hearing, hard of hearing, deaf, oralist, ASL
educated, rural, suburban and urban; and the list goes on. Vignettes of the Deaf
Character and Other Plays presents the drama and passion of a master playwright
who, through his perceptions, reveals facets of the Deaf character in all of us.
Kate Snodgrass, artistic director at Boston Playwrights’ Theatre has this to say
about Conley: “Willy Conley has an instinctive flair for the theatrical and a
consistent ear for dialogue. His plays are at once touching, funny, and
unpredictable, which make them all the more human; they are always dramatically
riveting.” Aaron Kelstone, visiting assistant professor in the Department of
Cultural and Creative Studies at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID)
in Rochester, New York, notes: “The imaginative works found in this anthology
point to a potentially new direction that may begin to pull Deaf audiences back
to the traditional face-to-face experiences that theater has to offer. It gives
theater an opportunity for regeneration and renewed discovery that may
potentially excite both hearing and deaf audiences. With these thoughts in mind,
we can explore how Willy Conley’s work provides us with a high degree of promise
for leading the way toward the rediscovery of this tradition.”
Order Vignettes of the Deaf Character and Other Plays today, and receive
a savings of 20% off with your exclusive subscriber discount. When ordering
online, type “JUN2009” in the box labeled
“use promo code” located next to the “checkout” button. You may also order by
mail.
 Reference
& Research Book News recognized Michele Bishop’s and Sherry L. Hicks’ book
Hearing,
Mother Father
Deaf: Hearing People in Deaf
Families: “Bishop and Hicks bring together a group of 10 essays, both research studies and
personal stories, about the shared culture of hearing children who grow up in
deaf families. Coverage encompasses bimodal bilingualism and language
acquisition in adults, grammatical markers, the cultural and linguistic
behaviors of hearing children from deaf families, sign and spoken language
contact phenomena, societal influences, and issues of self-expression, identity,
and experience. Essays were
written by scholars of linguistics, psychiatry, and psychology, and authors who
are deaf, hearing or children of deaf adults, who are based in the US, Europe,
Australia, and Brazil.” The 14th volume in the
Sociolinguistics in
Deaf Communities series, Hearing,
Mother Father
Deaf explores the rich
linguistic and cultural characteristics of hearing members of deaf families.
Read more in chapter eight,
“Exploring Linguistic
and Cultural Identity: My Personal Experience,” and
order Hearing, Mother
Father Deaf.
 In
It’s Not What
You Sign, It’s How You Sign It: Politeness in American Sign Language, author
Jack Hoza uses variables in how English speakers and native ASL signers express
politeness as a comparison of the two language communities’ styles. The current
issue of the Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education commends it
highly, stating: “Jack Hoza’s book compares the use of politeness strategies in American Sign
Language (ASL) and English and is an admirable and ambitious effort to analyze
this aspect of language use. The author’s
springboard is the common assertion that Deaf people’s use of ASL is more direct
(less mitigated) than hearing people’s use of English. The target of analysis is
a comparison of requests and rejections among ASL–Deaf interactions, and
English–hearing interactions, in the workplace. It’s Not What You Sign,
It’s How You Sign It provides an excellent framework for
studying this very intriguing topic and reveals some fascinating examples of how
people use ASL to negotiate difficult interactions.” The
full review is available online. Read more about this
engrossing study
in chapter eight, “Why
It Matters How You Say It,” and order It’s Not What You Sign, It’s How
You Sign It
here.
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