Kent State Trumbull Theatre holds auditions for “See No Beast, Hear No Beast, Speak No Beast,” a Deaf theatrical adaptation of "Beauty and the Beast"

By Nicholas Lilly, Student Employee

Inspired by variations of the fairytale, “Beauty and the Beast,” “See No Beast, Hear No Beast, Speak No Beast” is the story of a hearing man who is against the use of sign language and tends to think of deaf people as subhuman. This is also the story of a beautiful deaf woman who enriches her deaf students' lives by teaching with sign language.  The story explores the meanings of "beauty" and "beastliness", with the help of a spell-casting witch. The central mission of this production is to encour-age deaf and hearing, signing and signing-impaired, to learn to work together to create a positive and memorable experience for all.

The play will be directed by visiting Guest Artist James "Joey" Caverly. Caverly is an improv veteran, an actor who has worked on Broadway (Children of a Lesser God) and television (Chicago Med).  Recently, he directed an ASL/English version of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet for Community College of Baltimore County Community Theatre.  He travels back and forth across the country, promoting deaf-involved theater. Caverly sees a problem with most portrayals of deaf people on stage and screen: “That they’re the problem; they’re the issue in the story that needs to be fixed, and frankly I’m just not feeling that that’s the lens that the world needs to see.”  

At the helm of the production is Dr. Carol Robinson (associate professor of English, Kent State Trumbull and co-founding member of Deaf Theatre of Ohio),  Kurt Cullison (co-founding member of Deaf Theatre of Ohio and Kent State Trumbull student), and Mr. Eric Kildow (assistant professor of Theatre Arts, Kent State Trumbull and director of Kent State Trumbull Theatre). 

Auditions will be held at Kent State Trumbull’s Theatre Aug. 14 and 15 at 7:00 p.m.  The play has roles for both signers (on-stage) and speakers (some on-stage, others off-stage voice-over).  Deaf and hearing, teenagers and adults, signers and speakers, are encouraged to come!  

In addition to the production, Kent State Trumbull Theatre and Deaf Theatre of Ohio are working together to organize workshops, a forum, and similar events during the months of September and October. 

The show will be performed Oct. 18-20, 25-27. Friday-Saturday shows begin at 7:30 pm. Sunday shows are at 3 pm.

Auditions are open to the public. For more information, call/text: 234-200-0268.


 

 

POSTED: Friday, July 26, 2019 09:11 AM
Updated: Friday, December 9, 2022 08:11 AM