LITTLE ROCK — In a play about a young deaf woman, you would expect a theater company to cast a young deaf woman. The Arkansas Repertory Theatre did just that, selecting Amelia Hensley to play Sarah in Mark Medoff's Tony Award-winning play, Children of a Lesser God.
Then the Rep went a step further, casting a hearing-impaired artist, Nicole Capri, as the show's director. She then came up with the plan to teach the show's other six cast members American Sign Language, plus deaf culture and everyday issues facing the deaf community.
The play focuses on the relationship that develops between Sarah's character and that of James (Robert McCain), a new speech therapist at a deaf school. The other five cast members are Jeremy Matthew as Orin, William Rowland as Mr. Franklin, Caroline Holt as Lydia, Susie Dumond as Mrs. Norman and Kathryn Kellogg as Mrs. Klein.
Capri explains in an e-mail how she came to cast Hensley.
"For the past three years, the Arkansas Repertory Theatre has developed a wonderful relationship with the Arkansas School for the Deaf through residencies and educational programming," Capri writes. "And, for the past year [with the assistance of an educational grant from the Arkansas Arts Council], I had the life-changing opportunity to teach acting, mime, movement and dance classes every day to the high school students at ASD [Arkansas School for the Deaf].
"One of my favorite students, Amelia Hensley, was an instant standout. A senior honor student at ASD, Amelia is exceptionally talented, passionately tenacious and a beautiful, aspiring young actress. Unfortunately, acting opportunities for the deaf in our community are virtually nonexistent. Childrenof a Lesser God was chosen - not only to showcase Amelia's talent - but to [hopefully] improve the lines of communication between the deaf and hearing communities in Arkansas and to increase artistic opportunities for young artists - both hearing and deaf."
Capri, who has directed more than 100 professional, university and youth-oriented productions around the United States, founded the Rep's Summer Musical Theatre intensive training program in 2005.
The design team for the play includes set designer and production manager Rafael Castanera and resident sound designer Jason Pruzin, plus, from the intern company, costume designer Amanda Ytzen, lighting designer Robert Carroll and properties designer Megan Henderson, with education intern Conly Basham serving asassistant to the director.
After the play closes at The Rep, it will tour six central Arkansas schools between Oct. 29 and Nov. 5.
Children of a Lesser God
Today-Oct. 28,
SecondStage of Arkansas Repertory Theatre, Main and Sixth streets, Little Rock
Showtimes:
7 p.m. Wednesdays, 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays
Student matinees:
10:30 a.m. Oct. 19 and Oct. 24 All performances will be sign-interpreted for the hearing-impaired
Tickets:
$10
(501) 378-0405 or (866) 684-3737
Style, Pages 62 on 10/07/2007