CMU School of Drama


Thursday, April 13, 2017

To the Zoo and Back: ASL Meets Albee at the Wallis

@ This Stage: A decade ago, Deaf West Theatre brought their singular point of view to a memorable production of The Zoo Story. Under Coy Middlebrook’s direction, Troy Kotsur (Peter) and Tyrone Giordano (Jerry) squared off against each other, demonstrating that American Sign Language (ASL) brought a terrific vitality to Albee’s script.

1 comment:

Rebecca Meckler said...

This article has so many interesting points, from the script changes to the incorporation of american sign language. I thought it was interesting that there are two stories that were separate scripts, but are joined together in many productions. I wonder why high schools can licence Zoo Story, while professional companies can only lease At Home At The Zoo. I assume it’s due to the length, but I think that it’s an interesting thing to note. In terms of the production with Deaf West, I thought it was interesting to read about how the production team deals with the language barrier, especially the Director and Stage Manager. It seems that the both the Stage Manager and Director have are both attempting to learn ASL and the Stage Manager had created a system for communication before the rehearsal process started. I loved reading about this production and the barriers that is has to overcome.