Review: BROADWAY SIGNS! PRIDE at The Triad A Special Night

Something truly special happened at The Triad on August 3rd when Broadway SIGNs! PRIDE played a one-night only gala concert in American Sign Language as a benefit to fund Deaf Austin Theatre’s (DAT) fall production of The Laramie Project, the groundbreaking piece of theater created in the wake of the murder of Matthew Shepard.  The evening, co-hosted by Broadway and television star Sandra Mae Frank and Joey Antonio of the smash-hit TV show Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, featured a cast of actors from the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community performing a variety of musical numbers and poems from Leslea Newman’s October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard.  The exact details of the evening - cast, songs, and poems performed - will all be provided later in this article so that this writer can speak on the nature of this show and the ongoing importance of Deaf cabaret.

Since accepting this position with Broadway World, I have attended a handful of cabaret shows performed in American Sign Language (ASL) - the first of which was a solo show by actor Joshua Castille (review HERE), the second being a group show by Russell Harvard (review HERE), and this very program, overflowing with talent and heart.  Fellow Broadway World Cabaret writer Bobby Patrick attended a Broadway SIGNs! Halloween show at 54 Below (review HERE).  It has been the mission of this cabaret journalism team to seek out cabaret shows in ASL because it is an artform, a storytelling style, that is not only wildly artistic and vastly entertaining, it is extremely important - and the PRIDE show on Thursday night was one shining example after another of why this form of storytelling is valuable (to say nothing of the fundraising element of this particular show, which we will get to later).  All three of the evenings of ASL cabaret that I have witnessed have been different in their style.   Joshua Castille performed sign language to recorded tracks from cast recordings, soundtracks, and pop albums, Russell Harvard performed his ASL storytelling to both recorded tracks and live singers that would appear on the stage with him.  At the PRIDE Show, the actors were given an opportunity to show that there are no limitations to the manners in which Deaf and Hard of Hearing actors can tell their stories, something at which Deaf Austin Theatre is working dilligently, in an effort to break new ground in Deaf theater.  Some of the musical performances were enacted to recordings (as with Erin Rosenfeld, working with the cast recording of “Ring Of Keys” from Fun Home ) or with recording and video (like when Joey Antonio performed “This Is Me” from The Greatest Showman), while others were presented with a hearing actor performing the song, live, from the piano (Josh Canfield was on voice and Joey Caverly on ASL for “Corner Of The Sky”) and, finally, there was Sandra Mae Frank performing from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella with only the piano, herself, and the words to the song projected onto a screen.  There is a world of options available to actors performing in ASL and audiences, hearing and not, all of whom should be seeking out Deaf cabaret because, in the opinion of this cabaret frequenter, Deaf cabaret is awesome.  And even with these four different manners of performance, the PRIDE show was all the more intricate and interesting, thanks to the addition of the poetry aspect of the program, with actors on stage performing in ASL and actors offstage reciting the poetry into a microphone.  Producer Jo-Ann Dean offered that, "Leslea Newman did come to our rehearsal and had the opportunity to address our cast performing the six poems.  Non-exclusive Rights were obtained from Publisher in order to stage and livestream her poetic works. I hope to bring our actors performing these poems to The Matthew Shepard Foundation Gala in October to underscore the inclusion, and access to resources are needed for the Deaf community through captioning and ASL Interpretation."   Whether creating small venue performance art or narrative theater pieces, the collaborative efforts employed by Broadway SIGNs and Deaf Austin Theatre shone as highly successful during the presentation. Cabaret is about a lot of things, a lot of styles, a lot of art, and combining the musical performances with the poetic ones broadened the artistic and emotional landscape of the evening - particularly due to the subject matter that informed the entire evening: Matthew Shepard.

It’s been twenty-five years since Matthew Shepard was crucified on a fence in Wyoming but to many it may as well have been yesterday.  The memory of that horrible time is indelibly emblazoned in the minds and in the hearts of those (like this writer) who watched the story unfold in real-time.  The Laramie Project is more than just a work of art, it is a lesson in history and in life, and every time the play is produced and performed it serves as an act of activism.  Deaf Austin Theatre’s upcoming production will be historic in that it is the first time the work is being presented in ASL, and the production will not only be livestreamed, it will be filmed.  The organization is working to distribute a curriculum and video to Deaf schools in the US to erase hate, establish civil rights, and support LGBTQIA+ Deaf & Hearing students.   The Matthew Shepard Foundation has donated to the production and Dennis and Judy Shepard will attend the opening night of the play, which runs September 7th through 16th, with a goal to transfer to Broadway with Deaf and Hearing cast performing in ASL, in order to provide accessibility for all audiences.  For the PRIDE cabaret, there was much discussion of the play, with Barbara Pitt McAdams of the Tectonic Theater Project speaking about her experience as one of the Laramie Project interviewers, and of the production, with Deaf Austin Theatre LARAMIE director Jules Dameron describing the artistic process that went into designing a poster for the production that was informed by the fact that the play is being performed by Deaf and Hard of Hearing actors.  With the spirit of Matthew Shepard in the air, the PRIDE cabaret featured wonderful actors from both the Deaf and Queer communities, sharing their personal thoughts and feelings on everything from Laramie to the creation of theater to the task that Deaf Austin Theater Artistic Director Dr. Brian Cheslik has set himself and his company in the quest to keep the evolution of Deaf theater moving at a strong and steady pace.  From start to finish, the PRIDE cabaret was rich with artistry, emotional storytelling, community and humanity, and although the greater purpose of the evening was fundraising for the event, were there no fundraising efforts in play, the production and performances would still have made Broadway SIGNs! PRIDE a fine night of cabaret storytelling, the kind that make the cabaret and concert community a vital part of New York City nightlife.  The production savored strongly of the need for more Deaf cabaret and the benefits to be gained by every person scrolling the cabaret club calendars who looks at an event page and chooses a show by Broadway SIGNs! or any other actor or organization performing a club act in ASL.

Visit the Deaf Austin Theatre’s website HERE and donate to The Laramie Project HERE.

Visit the SIGNmation/BroadwaySIGNs! website HERE and The Triad website HERE.

Personnel for Broadway SIGNs! PRIDE:

CoHost: Sandra Mae Frank

CoHost: Joey Antonio

Performers:

Joey Caverly (AKA James Caverly)

Jules Dameron

Heba Toulan

Dickie Hearts

Kailyn Aaron-Lozano

Brian Cheslik

Andrew Morrill

Special Guest: Erin Rosenfeld 

Vocalist: Josh Canfield 

Vocalist & Reader: Christian Brailsford 

Music Director & Pianist:  Kevin Winebold

Producer: Jo-Ann Dean, SIGNmation & Broadway SIGNs!

Performances/appearances:

In My Own Little Corner (Cinderella) Sandra Mae Frank. Piano: Kevin Winebold 

Key Note: Barbara Pitt McAdams: Tectonic Theater Project The Laramie Project Writer/Actor, Stage & HBO Film.

Corner of the Sky (Pippin) Joey Caverly & Vocalist Josh Canfield. 

This is Me (The Greatest Showman) Joey Antonio. Vocalists: Josh Canfield & Christian Brailsford. Pianist Kevin Winebold & Track. 

I Am What I Am (La Cage aux Folles) Brian Andrew Cheslik. Vocals Josh Canfield and Piano Kevin Winebold. 

Without You (RENT) Sandra Mae Frank & Joey Antonio. Cast Recording Track. 

Raise You Up (Kinky Boots) Joey Antonio & Cast. Vocalists Josh Canfield & Christian Brailsford. Piano Kevin Winebold. 

Speaker: Jules Dameron: Director. The Laramie Project, Deaf Austin Theatre. 

Speaker: Dr. Brian Cheslik,  Artistic Director Deaf Austin Theatre 

Poetry performers and the poems performed:

October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard

Select poetry excerpts of Poet Leslea Newman’s Stonewall Honor Book performed in American Sign Language (ASL) and read by Voice Actor Christian Brailsford.

The Doe - Kailyn Aaron-Lozano

The Fence (Before) - Heba Toulan

The Fence (That Night) - Dickie Hearts

The Fence (One Week Later) - Andrew Morrill

Then & Now - Jules Dameron

The Fence (After) - Full Cast

ASL Interpreter: Jay Damas 

ASL Interpreter: Zak Taylor

ASL Interpreter: Alberto Medero

Production Assistant: Katie Lloyd 

Stage Manager: Miriam Rochford

Sponsor: BEA Investment Group, Barbara Chubb, Owner

Sponsor: SIGNmation, Jo-Ann Dean, Ownet

Sponsor: The Sign Language Center 

Photos by Stephen Mosher

 

 

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