how did DEaf Broadway begin?
To celebrate Stephen Sondheim’s 90th Birthday on Sunday, March 22, 2020, a mixed group of Deaf and ASL (American Sign Language) friends in New York City held a Zoom watch party of the recording of the original stage version of SWEENEY TODD, with Angela Lansbury. Since most of the people watching were performers, they sang along with the music as theater people are wont to do, except in ASL. However, the Deaf participants quickly came to realize how much they weren't able to follow.
The problem of knowing who was saying (or singing) what quickly became evident. Often, lines were captioned without indicating which character is saying it, leading to confusion and mistakes. In addition, as everyone knows, Mr. Sondheim is famous for his overlapping, rapid-fire lyrics, which can make the demands on captioning access incredibly complex. With basic captions, which is what is almost always provided, Deaf viewers only get the bare bones, so to speak. A notable example with SWEENEY is the overlapping of "Kiss Me" and "Ladies in their Sensitivities." Only "Kiss Me" was captioned and the nuance of "Ladies..." being sung at the same time was omitted completely.
As a result, as we watched, the Deaf participants ended up asking the hearing people for clarification and numerous comments ensued: "Oh, that's what THAT means?" and "Oh, I always thought the other character said that!" and, most commonly, "I never knew that!"
In addition, being native ASL users, many of the Deaf people struggled to decipher Sondheim's word play, yet another thing he is famous for. For instance, when Mrs. Lovett sings about having "limited wind" in "Worst Pies in London" for instance, it doesn't mean actual wind. This also had to be explained since the play on words was lost in translation.
Furthermore, captioning is flat with very little to no indication of emotional affect, so the Deaf participants were also often signing lines the way they assumed they were being sung when the characters were actually delivering them in another tone (angrily instead of sarcastically, for instance). In SWEENEY, the captioning indicates nothing when the Beggar Woman vacillates between prostituting herself "jig/muff" to asking for "Alms," very intense tonal shifts.
After the hearing people painstakingly explained the show to their Deaf friends, bit by bit, putting it together, a whole new understanding blossomed and the Deaf people started to finally, truly understand and appreciate the brilliance of SWEENEY TODD for the very first time in their lives. A whole new world opened up to us. It soon became clear that the best, most obvious way to make shows like this accessible to the Deaf Community was to provide visual language access, meaning ASL, so that it's always clear who is saying what and when and why and how. Only with ASL can the full nuance intended by the original creators finally be revealed for the Deaf community to understand, appreciate, and enjoy.
Incredibly excited about this new understanding of SWEENEY TODD and with plenty of free time due to this quarantine, this same group of friends decided to have a small, fun, one-time reading of SWEENEY TODD over Zoom, signing along to the film for each other. Once this was done, we realized what an incredibly special, groundbreaking, unprecedented form of access this was for the Deaf community. After this reading was shown to friends and families, there was an instant clamor for MORE, MORE, MORE! For the first time, Deaf people had full, visual access to musical theater on their own terms and a thirst quickly developed that needed to be sated. After all, it’s incredibly rare for Deaf people to be able to tell a popular story entirely on their own, in their own language, without influence from or control by hearing people or the mainstream theatre community. Finally, their hands were free of metaphorical shackles and it was life-changing.
After SWEENEY TODD, because of the deep love and respect for Sondheim, INTO THE WOODS was chosen as the follow-up, recorded and shared within a week's time. The result was astonishing. Messages of thanks poured in from families with Deaf children stranded at home with no visual language access due to the quarantine. Statistically, 90% of Deaf children are born into hearing families, most of whom do not sign, rendering them unable to communicate proficiently with the Deaf child. Language deprivation is a very real problem in the Deaf community, many children with hearing loss falling far behind their hearing peers, and the lack of exposure to ASL is a primary cause. Deaf Broadway's ASL content immediately became a bright window to a world that had suddenly been closed to these children. One mother in particular enthusiastically shared that the feature film of INTO THE WOODS has been a longtime favorite of her hearing children, but her Deaf child had not been able to enjoy the story the same way as her brothers and sisters. At least, not until now. A landslide of messages began coming in from Deaf schools, teachers, and theatre access organizations asking if they could send Deaf Broadway's videos to their students. Instantly, essentially overnight, Deaf Broadway exploded and it became evident how intense a need there is for this sort of access and language exposure. Each one of Deaf Broadway's productions provides one to two dozen native ASL language models. Hearing children encounter this nearly every time they venture out in public, but for Deaf children, this kind of exposure is extremely rare, if not non-existent. In addition, each and every person use to provide this access is Deaf themselves and a native user of American Sign Language. These videos, as we keep hearing over and over, are "authentically ASL."
In short, Deaf Broadway is truly full visual entertainment FOR the Deaf, BY the Deaf.
The problem of knowing who was saying (or singing) what quickly became evident. Often, lines were captioned without indicating which character is saying it, leading to confusion and mistakes. In addition, as everyone knows, Mr. Sondheim is famous for his overlapping, rapid-fire lyrics, which can make the demands on captioning access incredibly complex. With basic captions, which is what is almost always provided, Deaf viewers only get the bare bones, so to speak. A notable example with SWEENEY is the overlapping of "Kiss Me" and "Ladies in their Sensitivities." Only "Kiss Me" was captioned and the nuance of "Ladies..." being sung at the same time was omitted completely.
As a result, as we watched, the Deaf participants ended up asking the hearing people for clarification and numerous comments ensued: "Oh, that's what THAT means?" and "Oh, I always thought the other character said that!" and, most commonly, "I never knew that!"
In addition, being native ASL users, many of the Deaf people struggled to decipher Sondheim's word play, yet another thing he is famous for. For instance, when Mrs. Lovett sings about having "limited wind" in "Worst Pies in London" for instance, it doesn't mean actual wind. This also had to be explained since the play on words was lost in translation.
Furthermore, captioning is flat with very little to no indication of emotional affect, so the Deaf participants were also often signing lines the way they assumed they were being sung when the characters were actually delivering them in another tone (angrily instead of sarcastically, for instance). In SWEENEY, the captioning indicates nothing when the Beggar Woman vacillates between prostituting herself "jig/muff" to asking for "Alms," very intense tonal shifts.
After the hearing people painstakingly explained the show to their Deaf friends, bit by bit, putting it together, a whole new understanding blossomed and the Deaf people started to finally, truly understand and appreciate the brilliance of SWEENEY TODD for the very first time in their lives. A whole new world opened up to us. It soon became clear that the best, most obvious way to make shows like this accessible to the Deaf Community was to provide visual language access, meaning ASL, so that it's always clear who is saying what and when and why and how. Only with ASL can the full nuance intended by the original creators finally be revealed for the Deaf community to understand, appreciate, and enjoy.
Incredibly excited about this new understanding of SWEENEY TODD and with plenty of free time due to this quarantine, this same group of friends decided to have a small, fun, one-time reading of SWEENEY TODD over Zoom, signing along to the film for each other. Once this was done, we realized what an incredibly special, groundbreaking, unprecedented form of access this was for the Deaf community. After this reading was shown to friends and families, there was an instant clamor for MORE, MORE, MORE! For the first time, Deaf people had full, visual access to musical theater on their own terms and a thirst quickly developed that needed to be sated. After all, it’s incredibly rare for Deaf people to be able to tell a popular story entirely on their own, in their own language, without influence from or control by hearing people or the mainstream theatre community. Finally, their hands were free of metaphorical shackles and it was life-changing.
After SWEENEY TODD, because of the deep love and respect for Sondheim, INTO THE WOODS was chosen as the follow-up, recorded and shared within a week's time. The result was astonishing. Messages of thanks poured in from families with Deaf children stranded at home with no visual language access due to the quarantine. Statistically, 90% of Deaf children are born into hearing families, most of whom do not sign, rendering them unable to communicate proficiently with the Deaf child. Language deprivation is a very real problem in the Deaf community, many children with hearing loss falling far behind their hearing peers, and the lack of exposure to ASL is a primary cause. Deaf Broadway's ASL content immediately became a bright window to a world that had suddenly been closed to these children. One mother in particular enthusiastically shared that the feature film of INTO THE WOODS has been a longtime favorite of her hearing children, but her Deaf child had not been able to enjoy the story the same way as her brothers and sisters. At least, not until now. A landslide of messages began coming in from Deaf schools, teachers, and theatre access organizations asking if they could send Deaf Broadway's videos to their students. Instantly, essentially overnight, Deaf Broadway exploded and it became evident how intense a need there is for this sort of access and language exposure. Each one of Deaf Broadway's productions provides one to two dozen native ASL language models. Hearing children encounter this nearly every time they venture out in public, but for Deaf children, this kind of exposure is extremely rare, if not non-existent. In addition, each and every person use to provide this access is Deaf themselves and a native user of American Sign Language. These videos, as we keep hearing over and over, are "authentically ASL."
In short, Deaf Broadway is truly full visual entertainment FOR the Deaf, BY the Deaf.
What is Deaf Broadway?
Originally filmed in real time via webcam with diverse Deaf talent from around the world, this groundbreaking series provided full and complete American Sign Language (ASL) access to beloved selections from the Broadway catalog. Embracing both the challenges and opportunities of the quarantine, the ultimate goal for Deaf Broadway was unprecedented visual language access for the Deaf community. Our first attempt, SWEENEY TODD, was such a resounding success, both with the talent and the community itself, that the continuation of the work became inevitable.
Every week, we presented a different Broadway musical, making it accessible for those who communicate primarily in ASL, done exclusively by those for whom ASL is a native language, perpetuating our mission: FOR THE DEAF, BY THE DEAF. Each recording was available only for a limited time, Wednesday through Friday of every week, and was provided through exclusive permission from the owners of the rights.
Please keep in mind that these were never intended to be polished works but rather a chance to emulate the experience of live theater while providing accessible content for the Deaf community. As we went along, we gradually learned how to utilize the tools we had the best we could and continue to refine our approach even today. Growing pains are inevitable when you are breaking brand new ground.
Meanwhile, we are extremely thankful to the original artists and content creators for allowing us to continue this important work, the permission of whom we could not do this without.
For updates and more exciting news, please follow us on social media - link in navigation menu above.
Every week, we presented a different Broadway musical, making it accessible for those who communicate primarily in ASL, done exclusively by those for whom ASL is a native language, perpetuating our mission: FOR THE DEAF, BY THE DEAF. Each recording was available only for a limited time, Wednesday through Friday of every week, and was provided through exclusive permission from the owners of the rights.
Please keep in mind that these were never intended to be polished works but rather a chance to emulate the experience of live theater while providing accessible content for the Deaf community. As we went along, we gradually learned how to utilize the tools we had the best we could and continue to refine our approach even today. Growing pains are inevitable when you are breaking brand new ground.
Meanwhile, we are extremely thankful to the original artists and content creators for allowing us to continue this important work, the permission of whom we could not do this without.
For updates and more exciting news, please follow us on social media - link in navigation menu above.