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by Chris Kaftan
Originally
published on the website i711.com
The need for visual theatre within the deaf community is constant.
Performances that are word-based often do not find a place
within the deaf community or with deaf actors. When opportunities
for deaf actors or viewers to participate do occur, more often
than not, they're a concession to the auditory-centered society
that has unwittingly excluded the deaf community in one way or another.
The growing popularity of visual theatre has given the deaf community and deaf
actors the ability to showcase their talents. One of the obstacles facing deaf
thespians today is continuing a career in performing arts. Thanks to Quest: Arts
for Everyone, deaf actors have a venue to showcase their stage talents.
From January 9 to 22 at Towson University in Baltimore, Quest: Arts for Everyone
is producing an international deaf visual festival called QuestFest. Featuring
many international names, along will new productions choreographed especially
for QuestFest, it will indeed delight.
Quest: Arts for Everyone is a national non-profit theatre company that commits
to creating, producing, and presenting theatre that emanates from a visual base
and that features casts and production staffs that are inclusive.
QuestFest will feature 11 shows and 40 performances over the span of two weeks.
"We have dealt with the idea of visually based theatre for some time. Companies
like Cirque du Soleil and the Blue Man Group continue to do well," said
Tim McCarty, president of Quest4Arts. "We saw the visual theatre movement
benefiting not only deaf artists and audiences, but also artists and audiences
with disabilities and the ever-growing population in the United States who speak
English as their second or third language."
McCarty stressed the fact that anyone can enjoy the performances at QuestFest. "All
of the shows at QuestFest begin from a visual base. Deaf audience members can
attend performances with their hearing family members, friends, and co-workers
and see the same performance without being filtered through an interpreter." What
McCarty says is true - performances at QuestFest are pure visual theatre.
Asphyxia, a performing duo from Australia, will entertain audiences with its
internationally acclaimed Blood Makes Magic, which was one of the top attractions
at Deaf Way II, the international cultural arts festival hosted by Gallaudet
University four years ago.
Baltimore's own Edgar Allan Poe will be featured in a visual interpretation of
The Tell Tale Heart and The Masque of the Red Death, performed by international
artist Ramesh Meyyappan. Meyyappan, who hails from the United Kingdom, will feature
Poe's writing in an eclectic mix of visual and physical styles which reverberate
in dark characters and sinister plots that is synonymous with Poe's works. Meyyappan
will also perform in another performance, This Side Up, a story of one man's
struggle between the urban sprawl of the city and his need to get back to his
roots.
Pilobolus Too, from the Pilobolus Dance Company, an internationally acclaimed
American dance company, will feature two performers in visually energetic performances.
The PUSH Physical Theatre and the Chimaera Physical Theatre will provide their
productions, PUSH and Into the Night respectively, both filled with modern dance,
acrobatics, mime, and drama.
Making their world debut at QuestFest will be Lost & Clown'd, a three-man
physical performance starring Willy Conley, Eric Beatty, and Mark Jaster. In
an advance screening, one audience member called this performance "visually
vibrant." Quest's Mosaic will also feature at QuestFest. Mosaic has toured
across the country the last several years but will feature new performers with
the same vignettes as seen in past productions.
QuestFest will also feature for the first time, Rivers, a modern Indian dance
performance that blends gestures with ASL. Serious + Hilarious is a regional
theatre showcase native to Maryland combined with acrobatic dance, trapeze, and
classic slapstick comedy to entertain the audiences.
Last but not least, another visual performance will be Remains of Shadow, a performance
by two Japanese actors, Naoko Maeshiba and Tatsuya Aoyagi. Remains will focus
on shape and form aspects of visual theatre.
The QuestFest Conservatory will also debut at the festival. The Conservatory
will host a series of performing and training workshops for international performers.
"The United States, in particular, has very little training in visual theatre," noted
McCarty. "If we are successful in increasing opportunities in visual theatre,
companies will need more artists who are trained in visual theatre."
McCarty hopes that audiences will come away from the performances feeling connected
with the visual aspect of each performance. "QuestFest is a rare opportunity
for audiences in the United States to see this type of theatre. It just isn't
done that much."
William Shakespeare once said in As You Like It, "All the world's a stage/And
all the men and women are merely players." Deaf actors and their roles in
visual theatre will not thrive without the players who come to see them perform.
With festivals such as QuestFest, the visual theatre base will expand, allowing
for more opportunities for deaf thespians to showcase their talents and continue
their careers in the arts.
Even if you won't be getting on a bona fide stage, won't you play your part?
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