She began acting when she was a child, but New Zealand exchange student Sara Pivac had to overcome a sign-language barrier before joining Hinsdale South High School’s Deaf Drama Group.
“The signing is different here,” said Pivac, 18, through an interpreter. “And in New Zealand, deaf actors use more mime. Here they use sign language. I wasn’t sure I would join at first, but now I’m doing great. It’s a wonderful way to express myself.”
Her cast mates give the drama club at the Darien high school good reviews.
Through an interpreter, Eugene Cancio, a two-year drama veteran from Bloomingdale, said he “feels proud to be able to stand on the stage in front of the audience.”
Two-year member Brian Lievens of Downers Grove said acting “lets me improve myself by creating other characters.”
They are among the 20 cast and crew members of the Deaf Drama Group who will perform “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” Friday and Saturday. The one-act play for deaf and hearing audiences will be voiced by two interpreters with the school’s deaf and hard-of-hearing program.
Student interest in deaf drama traditionally is high, even though enrollment in the deaf and hard-of-hearing program has fluctuated over the years. This year, there are 35 students in the program, which draws from high school districts in DuPage County and western Cook County, but enrollment usually hovers about 50 students, said Don Raci, school counselor.
As with any production, the actors use gestures, facial expressions, actions and emotions to portray their characters and communicate meaning. But the students use their hands to convey the play’s words.
At rehearsal, lines such as, “I heard tell of a ghost on horseback . . . without a head!” fly off the fingers of the students and out of the mouths of the interpreters. Many of the students use American Sign Language, which is not a word-for-word reading, but interpreters speak each word.
Students who miss a line or stray from their marks are steered back on course by director Kathy Kush, who energetically signs her direction from a seat in the audience. Kush, who was born deaf, oversees every aspect of the production, from choosing the play to matching students to the right role. Kush and her husband also serve as host family for Pivac during her one-year stay in Darien.
“Sometimes a student wants a big role, and sometimes they want to start with one line,” Kush said through an interpreter. “In that case, I tell them, `You should start out small as a tree,’ and they are happy about that.”
Furniture and other parts of the set are built by the cast and crew. The work is overseen by Steve Schorsch, technical director for the drama department. In 15 years working with deaf drama, he has seen carpentry skills he has taught students take root.
“One of my students from 14 years ago came back to see me, and he’s a carpenter now,” said Schorsch. “The kids work hard and get some valuable experience.”
Drama is one of a handful of extracurricular activities offered just for deaf students, although they can participate in any outside activities available to hearing students. Similarly, many deaf students take some or all courses from the mainstream curriculum with the aid of an interpreter.
“The kids are involved in activities like soccer and other sports,” said Raci, who can hear but whose parents are deaf. “Deaf drama is just one of many activities they choose to join.”
Many acting veterans return to visit old friends and watch the new talent perform in one of the club’s two annual productions, a children’s play in the fall and a talent show in the spring.
“A lot of our graduates comes back each year,” said Schorsch. “It’s an enjoyable social activity in the deaf community.”
The play will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday in the school auditorium, 7401 Clarendon Hills Rd., Darien. A matinee for deaf elementary school children will be performed at 10 a.m. Friday.
