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Jardine: Theatre for Deaf takes the stage in Modesto - Featured Stories - Modbee.com
You're a good woman, Kaye Osborn.
Modesto's longtime teacher of American sign language always dreamed of creating stage opportunities for the deaf and hard of hearing. So she created the Central Valley Theatre for the Deaf, and now that dream will become a reality.
The troupe will make its debut April 29 in a two-act show with a "Peanuts" theme: Children from the Lakewood Elementary School Sign Club will sign skits and several songs from "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" and other "Peanuts" classics.
Angelo Najera, a fourth-grader, stars in the kids' skit, although he admits, "I don't know much about Charlie Brown."
In fact, Osborn said, most of the kids know virtually nothing about the characters from the classic cartoon strip.
"We're teaching them all about 'Peanuts,' " she said.
When the children finish their 20-minute segment, adult deaf actors Kaitlyn Evans and Heath Conway will sign monologues from the Charles Schulz playbook, with Osborn and Mark Medina, a sign language interpreter with Sylvan Unified School District, providing the voices.
Evans and Conway came up through the Lakewood Sign Club program. Evans, who will play the Lucy, Sally and Peppermint Patty roles, attends MJC. Conway, who has been acting for three decades and once was Osborn's dance partner in a junior college production of "Hello, Dolly!" teaches sign language at MJC.
How do you sign Charlie Brown, Snoopy and Schroeder?
"I'll use different props — a (dog) house and sitting in a biplane for Snoopy," he said.
Performances by the deaf and hard of hearing certainly don't represent a new concept. The difference, Osborn said, will be the presentation. In many such shows, the audience waits for the actors to act, then for the interpreters to interpret. In this case, they'll be voicing simultaneously, with no delay.
"This way, they can watch the stage and not have to go back and fourth," Osborn said. "We'll be voicing it to everyone."
The shows are open to the public and free, with the first show beginning at 1:30 p.m. followed by the second performance at7 p.m., both in Lakewood Elementary School's auditorium.
Osborn expects good crowds for both shows.
"We've been publicizing it in the American Sign Language classes and talking it up at the deaf socials," she said.
The kids concluded Monday's rehearsal by learning how to take their bows.
No, most of them won't hear the applause. But they'll definitely see it.
You're a good woman, Kaye Osborn.
Modesto's longtime teacher of American sign language always dreamed of creating stage opportunities for the deaf and hard of hearing. So she created the Central Valley Theatre for the Deaf, and now that dream will become a reality.
The troupe will make its debut April 29 in a two-act show with a "Peanuts" theme: Children from the Lakewood Elementary School Sign Club will sign skits and several songs from "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" and other "Peanuts" classics.
Angelo Najera, a fourth-grader, stars in the kids' skit, although he admits, "I don't know much about Charlie Brown."
In fact, Osborn said, most of the kids know virtually nothing about the characters from the classic cartoon strip.
"We're teaching them all about 'Peanuts,' " she said.
When the children finish their 20-minute segment, adult deaf actors Kaitlyn Evans and Heath Conway will sign monologues from the Charles Schulz playbook, with Osborn and Mark Medina, a sign language interpreter with Sylvan Unified School District, providing the voices.
Evans and Conway came up through the Lakewood Sign Club program. Evans, who will play the Lucy, Sally and Peppermint Patty roles, attends MJC. Conway, who has been acting for three decades and once was Osborn's dance partner in a junior college production of "Hello, Dolly!" teaches sign language at MJC.
How do you sign Charlie Brown, Snoopy and Schroeder?
"I'll use different props — a (dog) house and sitting in a biplane for Snoopy," he said.
Performances by the deaf and hard of hearing certainly don't represent a new concept. The difference, Osborn said, will be the presentation. In many such shows, the audience waits for the actors to act, then for the interpreters to interpret. In this case, they'll be voicing simultaneously, with no delay.
"This way, they can watch the stage and not have to go back and fourth," Osborn said. "We'll be voicing it to everyone."
The shows are open to the public and free, with the first show beginning at 1:30 p.m. followed by the second performance at7 p.m., both in Lakewood Elementary School's auditorium.
Osborn expects good crowds for both shows.
"We've been publicizing it in the American Sign Language classes and talking it up at the deaf socials," she said.
The kids concluded Monday's rehearsal by learning how to take their bows.
No, most of them won't hear the applause. But they'll definitely see it.