Miss-Delectable
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Democrat & Chronicle: Our Towns
Even being nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in drama made Luane Davis Haggerty "amazed, speechless and breathless."
So, imagine how the Henrietta woman felt when she started getting periodic e-mails from the selection committee saying that her script for Windows of the Soul was still in the running.
"I never even would have put that on a list of possibilities for myself," said Davis Haggerty, who teaches creative and cultural studies at Rochester Institute of Technology and teaches theater at Roberts Wesleyan College.
"It's far beyond my hopes and dreams for myself. It's really exciting."
Windows of the Soul, which got far in the contest but didn't win the Pulitzer this week, tells the story of a community of deaf people who all live in an apartment building. Each apartment has someone with a different take on what it means to be deaf. An Hispanic mother who can hear is raising a child who is deaf. One girl has an implant to help her hear and speak, while another resident is adamant that sign language be used.
"It reflects how the community functions," said Davis Haggerty, who grew up using American Sign Language with her grandmother and later learned that it helped her be a more expressive actor.
The show was so well liked at the New York City Deaf Theater Festival that it sold out and caught the attention of someone associated with the Pulitzer committee.
At first she had a hard time believing that someone was actually encouraging her to enter, but, "My husband said, 'They're not kidding. Drop everything and do what they want.'
"After that, I got it."
Still, it's hard for her to believe that what started as research for her doctoral dissertation has turned into a script that's gaining national attention — especially when many of her friends are talented playwrights.
But Gabrielle Nocciolino, a sophomore at RIT, sees it differently.
"I knew from day one I was a part of something special," said Nocciolino, who played Janice Ryder, a woman who receives a cochlear implant and struggles to find a place for herself between the hearing and deaf worlds. "This script is a collection of real stories from real people. We were representing them and so many more. I think that's what makes this story so incredibly special."
Even being nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in drama made Luane Davis Haggerty "amazed, speechless and breathless."
So, imagine how the Henrietta woman felt when she started getting periodic e-mails from the selection committee saying that her script for Windows of the Soul was still in the running.
"I never even would have put that on a list of possibilities for myself," said Davis Haggerty, who teaches creative and cultural studies at Rochester Institute of Technology and teaches theater at Roberts Wesleyan College.
"It's far beyond my hopes and dreams for myself. It's really exciting."
Windows of the Soul, which got far in the contest but didn't win the Pulitzer this week, tells the story of a community of deaf people who all live in an apartment building. Each apartment has someone with a different take on what it means to be deaf. An Hispanic mother who can hear is raising a child who is deaf. One girl has an implant to help her hear and speak, while another resident is adamant that sign language be used.
"It reflects how the community functions," said Davis Haggerty, who grew up using American Sign Language with her grandmother and later learned that it helped her be a more expressive actor.
The show was so well liked at the New York City Deaf Theater Festival that it sold out and caught the attention of someone associated with the Pulitzer committee.
At first she had a hard time believing that someone was actually encouraging her to enter, but, "My husband said, 'They're not kidding. Drop everything and do what they want.'
"After that, I got it."
Still, it's hard for her to believe that what started as research for her doctoral dissertation has turned into a script that's gaining national attention — especially when many of her friends are talented playwrights.
But Gabrielle Nocciolino, a sophomore at RIT, sees it differently.
"I knew from day one I was a part of something special," said Nocciolino, who played Janice Ryder, a woman who receives a cochlear implant and struggles to find a place for herself between the hearing and deaf worlds. "This script is a collection of real stories from real people. We were representing them and so many more. I think that's what makes this story so incredibly special."