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South High deaf and hearing students performing in 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' | cleveland.com
Growing up, deaf kids almost never get to be a daisy or a bookworm in a school play.
For the teenage deaf students at Cleveland's South High School, their stage debut is no less sweet for having been delayed. They are starring in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" -- with professional sets and costumes -- in which they will use sign language while hearing students provide the characters' voices while sitting offstage.
It's an extra wrinkle that these theater neophytes must master before the curtain goes up Thursday and Friday, May 13 and 14, at South. In a recent rehearsal, junior Dana Hiley, who puts plenty of sass in spoiled Veruca Salt, signed her monologue so fast that she got to the end way before her reader.
Play director Bill Morgan -- who can hear but knows American Sign Language and has worked with deaf actors professionally -- knew it would take practice to sync up the signed and spoken sentences. Morgan, using sign language, asked Dana to slow down by drawing one hand slowly up his arm.
Later, Morgan said he loved moments when students realize there are no right or wrong answers to creating art.
"Now they have to use their imaginations," he said while sipping a Diet 7UP. "It's encouraging them to think outside their boxes."
The high school students will present a 45-minute children's theater adaptation of the Roald Dahl book. The production is funded by the Ohio Arts Council and the Cleveland Hearing & Speech Center; performances are not open to the public.
In Dahl's book, young Charlie finds one of five Golden Tickets, which allow the owners to tour Willy Wonka's fabulous candy factory. Charlie and the other children -- Veruca, gluttonous Augustus Gloop, dedicated gum-chewer Violet Beauregarde and television addict Mike Teavee -- find the chocolate factory is filled with dangers and delights.
South High School provides instruction and sign-language interpreters for about 23 deaf and hearing-impaired students from across the district, said Sherry Cundra, who teaches deaf and hearing-impaired students at the school.
The cast includes five deaf students and one hearing student who signs, Cundra said. Since the high school doesn't have a drama club, she handpicked students to be readers for the play.
"The parents are excited," she said. "We are going to have droves of family coming in."
Rehearsals are held during the school day, so the 12-person cast must find extra motivation to keep up with their class work, Cundra said. "They're stepping up to the plate and doing that. They're trying hard," she said.
The professional sets and costumes are arriving courtesy of Morgan's professional theater company, Sign Stage on Tour, which presented "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" across the country this year. Some theater professionals will help the students with backstage duties.
"It was a natural fit to bring that together," Morgan said. He was artistic director of the now-defunct Cleveland Signstage Theatre. It folded three years ago and became a program under the auspices of the Cleveland Hearing & Speech Center, where Morgan is artistic manager.
The cast learned acting and stagecraft in workshops Morgan conducted at South last year.
"I learned how to leave me behind and become a new person," said junior Matilda Patterson, who plays Violet onstage. "I like entertaining people."
Growing up, deaf kids almost never get to be a daisy or a bookworm in a school play.
For the teenage deaf students at Cleveland's South High School, their stage debut is no less sweet for having been delayed. They are starring in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" -- with professional sets and costumes -- in which they will use sign language while hearing students provide the characters' voices while sitting offstage.
It's an extra wrinkle that these theater neophytes must master before the curtain goes up Thursday and Friday, May 13 and 14, at South. In a recent rehearsal, junior Dana Hiley, who puts plenty of sass in spoiled Veruca Salt, signed her monologue so fast that she got to the end way before her reader.
Play director Bill Morgan -- who can hear but knows American Sign Language and has worked with deaf actors professionally -- knew it would take practice to sync up the signed and spoken sentences. Morgan, using sign language, asked Dana to slow down by drawing one hand slowly up his arm.
Later, Morgan said he loved moments when students realize there are no right or wrong answers to creating art.
"Now they have to use their imaginations," he said while sipping a Diet 7UP. "It's encouraging them to think outside their boxes."
The high school students will present a 45-minute children's theater adaptation of the Roald Dahl book. The production is funded by the Ohio Arts Council and the Cleveland Hearing & Speech Center; performances are not open to the public.
In Dahl's book, young Charlie finds one of five Golden Tickets, which allow the owners to tour Willy Wonka's fabulous candy factory. Charlie and the other children -- Veruca, gluttonous Augustus Gloop, dedicated gum-chewer Violet Beauregarde and television addict Mike Teavee -- find the chocolate factory is filled with dangers and delights.
South High School provides instruction and sign-language interpreters for about 23 deaf and hearing-impaired students from across the district, said Sherry Cundra, who teaches deaf and hearing-impaired students at the school.
The cast includes five deaf students and one hearing student who signs, Cundra said. Since the high school doesn't have a drama club, she handpicked students to be readers for the play.
"The parents are excited," she said. "We are going to have droves of family coming in."
Rehearsals are held during the school day, so the 12-person cast must find extra motivation to keep up with their class work, Cundra said. "They're stepping up to the plate and doing that. They're trying hard," she said.
The professional sets and costumes are arriving courtesy of Morgan's professional theater company, Sign Stage on Tour, which presented "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" across the country this year. Some theater professionals will help the students with backstage duties.
"It was a natural fit to bring that together," Morgan said. He was artistic director of the now-defunct Cleveland Signstage Theatre. It folded three years ago and became a program under the auspices of the Cleveland Hearing & Speech Center, where Morgan is artistic manager.
The cast learned acting and stagecraft in workshops Morgan conducted at South last year.
"I learned how to leave me behind and become a new person," said junior Matilda Patterson, who plays Violet onstage. "I like entertaining people."