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Salon.com: Daniel Durant, 25, is breaking boundaries as Moritz in Deaf West Theatre’s production of “Spring Awakening.” In his Broadway debut the actor, who plays an insecure teenager confused about sexuality, commands attention with his animated facial expressions and touching movements.
7 comments:
Jason Cohen
said...
I think that it is super awesome that the commercial theater world is now accessible to members of the deaf community. I can only begin imagine how hard it must be to translate a full blown Broadway musical (like spring awakening) into American sign language. There is also the added challenge of having half the can also be deaf. First off, I think it really great that the actors who are supposed to be deaf are actually deaf. This article really opened my eyes to how complicated, and how much goes into explain blocking or choreography to an actor. I applaud Deaf West for all of the incredible work that have done, and are continuing to do. I hope that many more shows take the leap of faith and start making their productions more accessible to everyone because the stories that are being told are for everyone no matter what.
I have happened upon an article about this a couple of months back and it still makes me really happy to hear what this man and this company of actors is doing. I find it great that they are not opening up the theatre world to an audience that does't have a lot of opportunity to see live theatre, but they are also opening up the profession of theatre to the deaf community. This article didn't really talk about it much but the one i read a couple of months ago talked more about how all of the actors cued him in with very subtle gestures that they had carefully planned out. I love how every member of the production does their part in helping each other get their cues and put on a wonderful show. All of the meticulous movements and subtle cues the actors and production team have worked together to create are really amazing. It is also really interesting to learn how someone who is deaf handles the process of learning the music and connecting with it and their character. Overall, I think it really is inspiring what Daniel Durant has been able to achieve.
I think it is really cool how Daniel Durant took his disability and turned it into an art. He only knows how to communicate through his hands and facial expressions. He used them to do more than just communicate, he wanted to make an impact on people and tell stories through his hands. It is probably a huge challenge to perform and be in a show while being deaf because theatre relies a lot on hearing whether it is cues or songs. All of the deaf cast members of Spring Awakening have overcome all of the struggles and rely heavily on visual cues. That also makes it challenging for everyone else in the company because they need to be able to communicate with them. Acting is very difficult to begin with and I cannot even imagine what it is like when you are deaf. I have so much respect for everyone involved in Spring Awakening or any company with deaf performers because they are doing something extremely difficult and inspiring.
This show looks amazing!! And this actor looks so happy and so excited to be a part of this. I honestly never really imagined a Deaf theater as a thing. It didn't even occur to me. But seeing the clips they showed throughout the video, I was completely drawn in. I want to see the whole show now. The idea of deaf musicals is absolutely brilliant. As Daniel himself said, his hands are his lifeline; his hands are how he communicates or in this case 'sings' to the world. I never even considered how successful it could be to have people signing the lyrics to a musical. Its like a much more intricate dance. In addition, Spring Awakening is a genius choice for a musical of this nature as well. A lot of the choreography for this musical is very stuttered and puck rock-y and to have such quick and complicated hand movements for the choreography just fits with the nature of the show. Additionally, the theme of Spring Awakening has a lot to do with communication and lack thereof, as well as communication through bodies. Having sign language be a primary communication device for this add huge amounts to this story that could have never been done otherwise.
I know I've said it before, but I am so excited to see this show! As you may have guessed from my last few comments on posts about this show, I have been involved in the Deaf culture for several years. American Sign Language (ASL) is incredibly expressive and a major part of the language involves setting up and telling stories. Words/phrases are so much more expressive in ASL than in English, and they really do lend themselves to theater. Deaf theater has existed for several decades (the National Theatre of the Deaf was founded in the 1960's), but plays are typically not oral and most are not easily interpreted into English. Due to the visual nature of ASL, Deaf theater and poetry is usually not as linear/accessible as Deaf West's Spring Awakening. I hope that the success of this musical will draw more hearing audiences to Deaf theater performances and expose them to ASL. I'm also really happy that Spring Awakening is employing deaf (by the way, the capitalized "d" is used in reference to Deaf culture rather than deafness as a medical condition) actors because not all shows do that.
This has been the topic for so long that I'm grateful that people finally starts to pay attention to, give value, and do something with it more, in other words, try to open to it and adopting it into the business. I’m talking about diversity and equality for everyone. We’ve been reading articles after articles in our industry about how people asking for the rights of the disabilities to be able to shine and take over the role that fit them instead of let the role be taken over by normal people and preach them for being so talented and therefore should go home with uncle Oscars. Also, I’m glad we have Youtube. Youtube (and all those social media things) is the best tool for people in this century to show what they have and they can be stars by themselves without having to wait for the agencies or wait for someone to come along and discover them.
I’ve enjoyed going through the various greenpage articles, and seeing shows that have been interactive and interpretive for audience members’ alike. With that type of performance, it is mainly show based, but this approach has taken things to a whole new level. By making this a performance for the deaf, it definitely adds a new spectrum to the fact that it is a musical. By not only hearing Daniel’s story, but being able to take into account that he is not actually able to hear the music, and be able to stay on track of the cues as they progress. All of which without hearing anything I’m sure adds some frustration to the process, but I guess that’s why the outcome becomes so emotionally driven. They use hands to communicate, so by being able to make that form of communication heightened, as well as providing both physical and emotional acting, it rounds up to an overall great performance. One which I would really like to see.
7 comments:
I think that it is super awesome that the commercial theater world is now accessible to members of the deaf community. I can only begin imagine how hard it must be to translate a full blown Broadway musical (like spring awakening) into American sign language. There is also the added challenge of having half the can also be deaf. First off, I think it really great that the actors who are supposed to be deaf are actually deaf. This article really opened my eyes to how complicated, and how much goes into explain blocking or choreography to an actor. I applaud Deaf West for all of the incredible work that have done, and are continuing to do. I hope that many more shows take the leap of faith and start making their productions more accessible to everyone because the stories that are being told are for everyone no matter what.
I have happened upon an article about this a couple of months back and it still makes me really happy to hear what this man and this company of actors is doing. I find it great that they are not opening up the theatre world to an audience that does't have a lot of opportunity to see live theatre, but they are also opening up the profession of theatre to the deaf community. This article didn't really talk about it much but the one i read a couple of months ago talked more about how all of the actors cued him in with very subtle gestures that they had carefully planned out. I love how every member of the production does their part in helping each other get their cues and put on a wonderful show. All of the meticulous movements and subtle cues the actors and production team have worked together to create are really amazing. It is also really interesting to learn how someone who is deaf handles the process of learning the music and connecting with it and their character. Overall, I think it really is inspiring what Daniel Durant has been able to achieve.
I think it is really cool how Daniel Durant took his disability and turned it into an art. He only knows how to communicate through his hands and facial expressions. He used them to do more than just communicate, he wanted to make an impact on people and tell stories through his hands. It is probably a huge challenge to perform and be in a show while being deaf because theatre relies a lot on hearing whether it is cues or songs. All of the deaf cast members of Spring Awakening have overcome all of the struggles and rely heavily on visual cues. That also makes it challenging for everyone else in the company because they need to be able to communicate with them. Acting is very difficult to begin with and I cannot even imagine what it is like when you are deaf. I have so much respect for everyone involved in Spring Awakening or any company with deaf performers because they are doing something extremely difficult and inspiring.
This show looks amazing!! And this actor looks so happy and so excited to be a part of this. I honestly never really imagined a Deaf theater as a thing. It didn't even occur to me. But seeing the clips they showed throughout the video, I was completely drawn in. I want to see the whole show now. The idea of deaf musicals is absolutely brilliant. As Daniel himself said, his hands are his lifeline; his hands are how he communicates or in this case 'sings' to the world. I never even considered how successful it could be to have people signing the lyrics to a musical. Its like a much more intricate dance. In addition, Spring Awakening is a genius choice for a musical of this nature as well. A lot of the choreography for this musical is very stuttered and puck rock-y and to have such quick and complicated hand movements for the choreography just fits with the nature of the show. Additionally, the theme of Spring Awakening has a lot to do with communication and lack thereof, as well as communication through bodies. Having sign language be a primary communication device for this add huge amounts to this story that could have never been done otherwise.
I know I've said it before, but I am so excited to see this show! As you may have guessed from my last few comments on posts about this show, I have been involved in the Deaf culture for several years. American Sign Language (ASL) is incredibly expressive and a major part of the language involves setting up and telling stories. Words/phrases are so much more expressive in ASL than in English, and they really do lend themselves to theater. Deaf theater has existed for several decades (the National Theatre of the Deaf was founded in the 1960's), but plays are typically not oral and most are not easily interpreted into English. Due to the visual nature of ASL, Deaf theater and poetry is usually not as linear/accessible as Deaf West's Spring Awakening. I hope that the success of this musical will draw more hearing audiences to Deaf theater performances and expose them to ASL. I'm also really happy that Spring Awakening is employing deaf (by the way, the capitalized "d" is used in reference to Deaf culture rather than deafness as a medical condition) actors because not all shows do that.
This has been the topic for so long that I'm grateful that people finally starts to pay attention to, give value, and do something with it more, in other words, try to open to it and adopting it into the business. I’m talking about diversity and equality for everyone. We’ve been reading articles after articles in our industry about how people asking for the rights of the disabilities to be able to shine and take over the role that fit them instead of let the role be taken over by normal people and preach them for being so talented and therefore should go home with uncle Oscars. Also, I’m glad we have Youtube. Youtube (and all those social media things) is the best tool for people in this century to show what they have and they can be stars by themselves without having to wait for the agencies or wait for someone to come along and discover them.
I’ve enjoyed going through the various greenpage articles, and seeing shows that have been interactive and interpretive for audience members’ alike. With that type of performance, it is mainly show based, but this approach has taken things to a whole new level. By making this a performance for the deaf, it definitely adds a new spectrum to the fact that it is a musical. By not only hearing Daniel’s story, but being able to take into account that he is not actually able to hear the music, and be able to stay on track of the cues as they progress. All of which without hearing anything I’m sure adds some frustration to the process, but I guess that’s why the outcome becomes so emotionally driven. They use hands to communicate, so by being able to make that form of communication heightened, as well as providing both physical and emotional acting, it rounds up to an overall great performance. One which I would really like to see.
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