Little Lake teams up with School for the Deaf for ASL production of ‘Captain Louie Jr.’
Youngsters rehearse for Captain Louie Jr.”
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Jena Oberg, the director of “Captain Louie Jr.,” and her daughter, Anusha
Learning your lines, getting your blocking down, making sure your voice is being heard in the last row. Those are all standard parts of the prep work before appearing in a theatrical production.
For its upcoming staging of “Captain Louie Jr.,” Little Lake Theatre in North Strabane has added another element to the mix — its cast members who can hear must learn sign language.
“We ask a lot of deaf children,” said Jena Oberg, Little Lake’s former artistic director and the director of “Captain Louie Jr.” She pointed out how children with hearing impairments have to learn to navigate in a world designed for hearing, and so “we sort of turn the tables with this project.”
For the first time in its long history, Little Lake is teaming up with the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf for a production. Oberg pointed out that deaf performers appearing in community theater presentations is extremely uncommon — she is unaware of one that has ever attempted it before. There are theater companies in the United States and elsewhere in the world that use sign language and the spoken word, such as the Deaf West Theatre in Los Angeles and the National Theater of the Deaf in Connecticut.
A children’s musical written by Stephen Schwartz, the creator of “Wicked” and “Godspell,” “Captain Louie Jr.” is based on the children’s book “The Trip,” and is about making new friends. The cast of “Captain Louie Jr.” is divided between 13 hearing cast members and eight cast members from the School for the Deaf. It’s being presented in spoken English and American Sign Language (ASL). Once the hearing cast members were put in place, they had to take a 10-week ASL course.
According to Oberg, “We took a group of hearing actors and said, you’re going to learn a whole new language system, and you’re going to be in a school when adults sign, and you’re going to be asked to do an activity that you love, but you have to accommodate others.”
She added, “Often we don’t pay attention to the pragmatic aspect of language. We pay more attention to the words. So (audiences) will be asked to listen to the story a little differently or experience the story a little differently, which is a cool experience.”
Some of the costs for the production have been covered through assistance from Pennsylvania Neighborhood Assistance Program and the PNC Foundation. A $16,500 tax credit was awarded to Charleroi-based LaCarte Enterprises for its support of the production. Oberg hopes “Captain Louie Jr.” is the first in a series of collaborations with the School for the Deaf.
“If it’s possible for that to happen in the future, I think that would be really great. I would love to have more opportunities. It’s very rare that a deaf child can go into an activity outside the school and participate.”
Next Thursday night’s premiere performance of “Captain Louie Jr.” is sold out. Additional performances are scheduled for Friday, Oct. 7 at 7 p.m.; Saturday, Oct. 8 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.; and Sunday, Oct. 9 at 2 p.m.
For additional information go online to www.littlelake.org or call 724-745-6300.