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Musical production caters to the deaf and hearing at the same time | KOMO News - Breaking News, Sports, Traffic and Weather - Seattle, Washington | Local & Regional
Learning lines and hitting your mark is hard enough, but there is an additional challenge facing a group of young actors this weekend.
The theater is dark, there's a round of "shhhhhh," and the small audience goes quiet. Just before the lights come up, some direction comes from the front row of seats.
"OK, ready with sound," says the director. "I need sound."
The lights come up, and then we hear the opening notes of the musical "Annie Junior," a production of "SummerStage," a children's musical camp that puts together an entire show starring 9 through 15-year-olds in just two weeks.
"I've learned so much," says an excited 13 year-old Amber, "how to get into the role of the character, and all sorts of things like that."
She has one of the principal roles in the show. Amber is learning lines, and she's learning signs. Through her interpreter, she tells me about the challenge of this particular theater.
"I would say the biggest challenge is timing and eye-contact," she says.
Amber is deaf. And so are a few others in this unique production the combines the talents of both hearing and non-hearing kids. The SummerStage production of "Annie Junior" plays through Sunday at the Seattle Musical Theater's main stage in Magnuson Park.
As if putting a musical together in 2 weeks wasn't challenging enough.
"I've split the scenes in half," says director Beth Mahmoud-Howell. "Half of the stage, you'll have the deaf ensemble members working together, and half you'll have the voice actors working together."
Instead of casting a deaf student for a role and relying on an interpreter, Mahmoud-Howell has cast a hearing AND non-hearing student for certain roles. Simultaneously and in similar costume, they perform the one role on stage. "Rooster" is one of the characters dually-cast.
"He's really devious and sneaky," says 13 year-old Austin Ake. "He just really cares about himself."
As Austin portrays the character through signing, his hearing-enabled counterpart Sofian Mahmoud uses his voice.
"It's made me learn a lot because we have to time everything," Sofian tells KOMO. "And make sure we're both on the same track."
I jokingly asked the pair "Who is the better actor?" Their answer says more than perhaps they'd intended.
"I don't really know," Austin replied.
"I think we're both the same, just in different ways," Sofian adds.
"Yeah, I agree," Austin says.
Choreographer Troy Wageman has a lot to consider when placing both hearing and non-hearing kids on the same stage.
"This has been quite a bit of a challenge," Wageman says. "But quite rewarding, because everyone should have a place in the theater."
For these young actors, working with someone different isn't an obstacle...it's an opportunity.
"The kids are much quicker at dropping those sorts of boundaries than adults are," says Mahmoud-Howell.
Unlike Annie, these kids have found their acceptance...and their new family...today.
Learning lines and hitting your mark is hard enough, but there is an additional challenge facing a group of young actors this weekend.
The theater is dark, there's a round of "shhhhhh," and the small audience goes quiet. Just before the lights come up, some direction comes from the front row of seats.
"OK, ready with sound," says the director. "I need sound."
The lights come up, and then we hear the opening notes of the musical "Annie Junior," a production of "SummerStage," a children's musical camp that puts together an entire show starring 9 through 15-year-olds in just two weeks.
"I've learned so much," says an excited 13 year-old Amber, "how to get into the role of the character, and all sorts of things like that."
She has one of the principal roles in the show. Amber is learning lines, and she's learning signs. Through her interpreter, she tells me about the challenge of this particular theater.
"I would say the biggest challenge is timing and eye-contact," she says.
Amber is deaf. And so are a few others in this unique production the combines the talents of both hearing and non-hearing kids. The SummerStage production of "Annie Junior" plays through Sunday at the Seattle Musical Theater's main stage in Magnuson Park.
As if putting a musical together in 2 weeks wasn't challenging enough.
"I've split the scenes in half," says director Beth Mahmoud-Howell. "Half of the stage, you'll have the deaf ensemble members working together, and half you'll have the voice actors working together."
Instead of casting a deaf student for a role and relying on an interpreter, Mahmoud-Howell has cast a hearing AND non-hearing student for certain roles. Simultaneously and in similar costume, they perform the one role on stage. "Rooster" is one of the characters dually-cast.
"He's really devious and sneaky," says 13 year-old Austin Ake. "He just really cares about himself."
As Austin portrays the character through signing, his hearing-enabled counterpart Sofian Mahmoud uses his voice.
"It's made me learn a lot because we have to time everything," Sofian tells KOMO. "And make sure we're both on the same track."
I jokingly asked the pair "Who is the better actor?" Their answer says more than perhaps they'd intended.
"I don't really know," Austin replied.
"I think we're both the same, just in different ways," Sofian adds.
"Yeah, I agree," Austin says.
Choreographer Troy Wageman has a lot to consider when placing both hearing and non-hearing kids on the same stage.
"This has been quite a bit of a challenge," Wageman says. "But quite rewarding, because everyone should have a place in the theater."
For these young actors, working with someone different isn't an obstacle...it's an opportunity.
"The kids are much quicker at dropping those sorts of boundaries than adults are," says Mahmoud-Howell.
Unlike Annie, these kids have found their acceptance...and their new family...today.