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Bridging deaf, hearing worlds | Herald Times Reporter | htrnews.com
When Liysa Callsen of Manitowoc began grade school, she learned that not everyone talks with their hands.
Callsen, who has full hearing, was raised in the Detroit area by deaf parents and grew up bilingual: she spoke English and American Sign Language.
Her experience of living in a deaf household and dealing with the hearing culture is the basis for her one-woman show, "Codadiva," which she will perform at 7 p.m. today at Lakeshore Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 620 Park St.
Coda is short for children of deaf adults. In this original, one-woman show, Callsen, 38, tries to bridge the two worlds. She will present her story in American Sign Language with a voice interpreter.
"I lovingly say it's subtitled for your ears," she said. "It's a very rare opportunity to see the beauty of sign language in a show format."
In this 75-minute show, Callsen will tell how her parents met, created a deaf family and how she helped link that family to the hearing world.
She was called on to be her parents' interpreter at an early age because there weren't any other options in those days. Grown-up tasks like finding life insurance fell to her when she was only 10, she said.
"For the most part I liked the attention," Callsen said.
Perhaps the most poignant story she tells is the one in which, at age 12, she accompanied her mother to the doctor's office and had to convey the news that her mother needed to have brain surgery.
What weighed most heavily on her as a child was her concern that she was signing correctly.
"I wanted to make sure what they were saying, which was over my head, I was really concerned that I was translating it correctly," she said. "I was concerned that each world, hearing and deaf, was getting the information that they needed."
The lack of awareness about deaf people from the hearing community was her biggest obstacle growing up, said Callsen. She remembers hearing unkind comments about her deaf parents and being asked questions like, "Can they drive a car?"
"Looking back, I was an advocate from birth. I was always educating. Not only can my parents do that, they have telephones that ring and flash. I made sure they got more answers than the questions they were asking," she said.
"For me, the No. 1 thing is that I realized that I had this tug of war between the deaf and hearing community and now I've just kind of tied the knot. Deaf and hearing is part of who I am. I don't have to choose."
She cautions that audiences shouldn't take the show to represent all codas.
"My experiences are completely my own," Callsen said.
Callsen's ties to the deaf world weren't severed when she grew up and moved away from home.
"I was in Chicago, completely hearing, no parents, relatively no signing. I seemed to be feeling I was missing that outlet so I joined a deaf young social group that met once a month," she said. "My whole life was thinking that deaf people are my parents' age. I finally got to meet people my age that were deaf."
It was there that she met her husband, Carl, who is deaf. They have been married for 11 years and have three hearing children who also communicate in American Sign Language.
Interestingly, Callsen has been writing the show for more than a year, but it didn't come together until last fall, when she put down paper and pen.
"I signed it and recorded myself signing it, then I wrote it down," she said.
Drawn to acting since high school, Callsen studied improv at Second City in Chicago and was a partner in the Bubbler Theatre in Manitowoc for a time.
Callsen performed two "Codadiva" shows in Milwaukee in March and has one scheduled in Chicago in June.
"I get a lot of hearing people who have no relation to deafness who say they are moved by it. Somehow it's been able to resonate with hearing people," Callsen said. "They take a piece of something and they're definitely identifying with the show."
Admission to the Manitowoc show is $12. Tickets are available online at Shows | or at the door the day of the show.
The show will help raise funds for Callsen to attend a fundraiser in Los Angeles that will highlight a PSA commercial in which she translated a poem in American Sign Language. After the launch in California, the commercial will go nationwide, according to Callsen.
When Liysa Callsen of Manitowoc began grade school, she learned that not everyone talks with their hands.
Callsen, who has full hearing, was raised in the Detroit area by deaf parents and grew up bilingual: she spoke English and American Sign Language.
Her experience of living in a deaf household and dealing with the hearing culture is the basis for her one-woman show, "Codadiva," which she will perform at 7 p.m. today at Lakeshore Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 620 Park St.
Coda is short for children of deaf adults. In this original, one-woman show, Callsen, 38, tries to bridge the two worlds. She will present her story in American Sign Language with a voice interpreter.
"I lovingly say it's subtitled for your ears," she said. "It's a very rare opportunity to see the beauty of sign language in a show format."
In this 75-minute show, Callsen will tell how her parents met, created a deaf family and how she helped link that family to the hearing world.
She was called on to be her parents' interpreter at an early age because there weren't any other options in those days. Grown-up tasks like finding life insurance fell to her when she was only 10, she said.
"For the most part I liked the attention," Callsen said.
Perhaps the most poignant story she tells is the one in which, at age 12, she accompanied her mother to the doctor's office and had to convey the news that her mother needed to have brain surgery.
What weighed most heavily on her as a child was her concern that she was signing correctly.
"I wanted to make sure what they were saying, which was over my head, I was really concerned that I was translating it correctly," she said. "I was concerned that each world, hearing and deaf, was getting the information that they needed."
The lack of awareness about deaf people from the hearing community was her biggest obstacle growing up, said Callsen. She remembers hearing unkind comments about her deaf parents and being asked questions like, "Can they drive a car?"
"Looking back, I was an advocate from birth. I was always educating. Not only can my parents do that, they have telephones that ring and flash. I made sure they got more answers than the questions they were asking," she said.
"For me, the No. 1 thing is that I realized that I had this tug of war between the deaf and hearing community and now I've just kind of tied the knot. Deaf and hearing is part of who I am. I don't have to choose."
She cautions that audiences shouldn't take the show to represent all codas.
"My experiences are completely my own," Callsen said.
Callsen's ties to the deaf world weren't severed when she grew up and moved away from home.
"I was in Chicago, completely hearing, no parents, relatively no signing. I seemed to be feeling I was missing that outlet so I joined a deaf young social group that met once a month," she said. "My whole life was thinking that deaf people are my parents' age. I finally got to meet people my age that were deaf."
It was there that she met her husband, Carl, who is deaf. They have been married for 11 years and have three hearing children who also communicate in American Sign Language.
Interestingly, Callsen has been writing the show for more than a year, but it didn't come together until last fall, when she put down paper and pen.
"I signed it and recorded myself signing it, then I wrote it down," she said.
Drawn to acting since high school, Callsen studied improv at Second City in Chicago and was a partner in the Bubbler Theatre in Manitowoc for a time.
Callsen performed two "Codadiva" shows in Milwaukee in March and has one scheduled in Chicago in June.
"I get a lot of hearing people who have no relation to deafness who say they are moved by it. Somehow it's been able to resonate with hearing people," Callsen said. "They take a piece of something and they're definitely identifying with the show."
Admission to the Manitowoc show is $12. Tickets are available online at Shows | or at the door the day of the show.
The show will help raise funds for Callsen to attend a fundraiser in Los Angeles that will highlight a PSA commercial in which she translated a poem in American Sign Language. After the launch in California, the commercial will go nationwide, according to Callsen.
