Children of a Lesser God Closing: Loss for Deaf and Hearing Communities

NEW YORK, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — The revival six weeks ago of the 1980 Broadway play “Children of a Lesser God” had its final performance on May 27. SignTalk, a national sign language interpreter referral agency and media resource, comments that the play’s early closing for financial reasons is regrettable. SignTalk interviewed Alexandria Wailes, the production’s Director of Artistic Sign Language, who is Deaf and an acclaimed actress — including Big River on Broadway— who describes the personal impact the preparation of this play had on her. “Working with this incredible company of artists has allowed me to see more of my life represented upon the stage as far as racial and cultural diversity.”

Lauren Ridloff who played the Deaf student, Sarah, was herself born deaf. She signed her lines and spoken language by others was captioned, making the play fully accessible to a Deaf audience. Ms. Ridloff is a former teacher. “A sensational find,” according to The New York Times, this was her Broadway debut and first major acting role for which she received a Tony nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role and the 2018 Theatre World Award. SignTalk is very proud that Ms. Ridloff and Susanne Morgan Morrow, MA, CI, CT, SignTalk’s Professional Relations Liaison, co-presented for its first webinar series “Professionalism and Ethical Practices,” benefiting from Lauren’s tremendous presence and talent even before she was discovered by director Kenny Leon. http://bit.ly/2s9PHyc

According to Alexandria Wailes, this play allows “many people who, currently, have very limited interaction or exposure to the Deaf community…to get a glimpse of how people were treated, forty years ago.” She is optimistic that “many who saw the production in 2018 will be compelled to support, encourage, demand and/or find it within them to draft up different narratives and representation of the D(d)eaf body as well as relationships within the community and between cultures.” Ms. Wailes had previously participated in SignTalk Foundation’s popular Deaf Forum regarding the scandal of the fake interpreter at Nelson Mandela’s memorial. http://bit.ly/2J55Te2

In addition to referring qualified interpreters, SignTalk also serves as a resource for major news and entertainment venues and provided interpreters for the season finale of Celebrity Apprentice where Marlee Matlin, a Deaf actress, was a finalist. Ms. Matlin had won an Oscar for the role of Sarah in the 1986 movie adaptation of Children of a Lesser God. SignTalk has supported her charity the Starkey Hearing Foundation.

“This play provided a profound educational moment,” says Dr. Joseph Geliebter, SignTalk’s Founder and Executive Director. “As such, non-profit organizations that support public theater, public television and other educational programs should find this play worthy of their support. Hopefully, they will discover a venue within which to bring it back.” As part of SignTalk’s 21st Anniversary, SignTalk was honored to sponsor the Sign Language Interpreters for Deaf and Deaf-Blind patrons at several performances. Dr. Geliebter also highlighted that “the production is fully aligned with the mission of the SignTalk Foundation.” He congratulates the entire production company for an amazing job.

About SignTalk, LLC
Celebrating its 21st anniversary, SignTalk, a three-time Inc. 500/5000 winner, is dedicated to facilitating communication between the Deaf and hearing communities in a variety of venues – school districts, hospital and medical systems, performing arts, government, corporate, social services, etc. www.signtalk.com

About SignTalk Foundation, Inc.
A nonprofit, public charity, SignTalk Foundation’s mission is to promote, foster, and advance public awareness of the use and standards of sign language interpreting services; to protect the interests of and to develop programs for the Deaf and hard of hearing community; and promote sign language education to the hearing public. www.signtalkfoundation.org