Miss-Delectable
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KATV Channel 7 - Arkansas Arts: Children of a Lesser God
A unique play starts Thursday at The Rep.
The show is not only about the struggles of a deaf woman, but one of the lead roles is played by an actress who is unable to hear or speak.
The Tony Award-winning play is called "Children of a Lesser God.” It's a love story about two people from different backgrounds.
Speaking through an interpreter, Amelia Hensley says she can relate to her character's challenges.
(Ameila Hensley, Lead Actress) “Just because both of us are deaf and we definitely feel the same way I believe. We have the same struggles. At the same time, we have differences because her fear blocked her ambition of goals, and I'm definitely one that will chase after my dream.”
Amelia's leading man, Robert McCain, has the responsibility of communicating what Amelia is saying to the audience.
(Robert McCain, Lead Actor) “It's been a lot different, especially since I'm voicing a lot of her lines, trying to match her intensity and her inflection without any sort of speech is hard.”
Robert actually learned sign language for this role.
(Hensley) “I made fun of him a little bit this morning just because ‘ha, ha, you have to learn my language’--but really the entire cast has been so great, and I'm really impressed with their ability to learn sign language so quickly.”
Both Amelia and Robert say this show has definitely been a challenge, but they hope to bring about a better understanding of the deaf culture.
(Hensley) “I think it just showed even deaf individuals at the deaf school that deaf people can do anything. It's not a limitation. So they were able to look to me for that and just really understand that there are so many opportunities for deaf people now. And before sometimes they would think deaf people really couldn't do things and now they know better.”
A unique play starts Thursday at The Rep.
The show is not only about the struggles of a deaf woman, but one of the lead roles is played by an actress who is unable to hear or speak.
The Tony Award-winning play is called "Children of a Lesser God.” It's a love story about two people from different backgrounds.
Speaking through an interpreter, Amelia Hensley says she can relate to her character's challenges.
(Ameila Hensley, Lead Actress) “Just because both of us are deaf and we definitely feel the same way I believe. We have the same struggles. At the same time, we have differences because her fear blocked her ambition of goals, and I'm definitely one that will chase after my dream.”
Amelia's leading man, Robert McCain, has the responsibility of communicating what Amelia is saying to the audience.
(Robert McCain, Lead Actor) “It's been a lot different, especially since I'm voicing a lot of her lines, trying to match her intensity and her inflection without any sort of speech is hard.”
Robert actually learned sign language for this role.
(Hensley) “I made fun of him a little bit this morning just because ‘ha, ha, you have to learn my language’--but really the entire cast has been so great, and I'm really impressed with their ability to learn sign language so quickly.”
Both Amelia and Robert say this show has definitely been a challenge, but they hope to bring about a better understanding of the deaf culture.
(Hensley) “I think it just showed even deaf individuals at the deaf school that deaf people can do anything. It's not a limitation. So they were able to look to me for that and just really understand that there are so many opportunities for deaf people now. And before sometimes they would think deaf people really couldn't do things and now they know better.”