Daniel Durant and James Olivas to Star in ELEPHANT SHOES in Spoken English and ASL
Elephant Shoes will be performed in ASL, spoken English, and open captioning, and will be fully accessible to both deaf and hearing audiences.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Feb. 10, 2026
Daniel Durant (Spring Awakening, CODA) and James Olivas (Evita, American Idiot) will star in Elephant Shoes, a world premiere co-production with Two River Theater and Deaf West Theatre, book by Ivan Menchell (Bonnie & Clyde: The Musical, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang), music and lyrics by Caroline Kay (Overnight, Daisy) and direction and choreography by Jeff Calhoun (Newsies, Deaf West’s Big River).
This new musical with a soaring contemporary score and an immersive blend of spoken English, American Sign Language (ASL), and groundbreaking stage technology that will ignite your senses and change the way you experience musical theater, will run in the Joan and Robert Rechnitz Theater from June 4 through June 28, 2026.
Cy is on the verge of revolutionizing communication! His brilliant invention instantly translates spoken English into American Sign Language, and vice versa. But his breakthrough means nothing if he cannot connect with the one person he longs for — Roxy, a whip-smart coder, and an integral part of turning their tech dream into reality. As they work side by side, Cy finds himself falling in love, only to watch his Best Friend, Chris, sweep Roxy off her feet. A modern-day ‘Cyrano’ tale, Elephant Shoes asks: Can love transcend language or will it forever be lost in translation?
Elephant Shoes will be performed in ASL, spoken English, and open captioning, and will be fully accessible to both deaf and hearing audiences.
The creative team for Elephant Shoes includes Jeff Calhoun (director and choreographer), Colin Analco (ASL Choreographer), Meghan Zervoulis Bate (Music Direction), Tom Kitt (Orchestrations), Tobin Ost (Set Design), Caite Hevner (Projection Design), Sarafina Bush (Costume Design), Annie Wiegand (Lighting Design), Daniel Lundberg (Sound Design), and casting by the TRC Company/Spencer Gualdoni, CSA.
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