Four County Shows Highlight Arts by and for Disabled

Next time you are out at your favorite nightclub, try this little experiment. Just as that funny guy on stage is about to let loose with the punch line, close your eyes and stick your fingers in your ears. Then see if you get the joke.

Statistics indicate that there are 130,000 county residents who are hearing impaired and about 5,000 who are legally blind. Just like the rest of us when it is time to unwind, many enjoy nothing better than a good laugh, some pleasant music or a little creative self-expression. But finding entertainment that is accessible to them can be yet another hurdle in their lives.

“The hearing and visually impaired each have distinctive entertainment needs,” said Brenda Premo, who has been executive director of the Dayle McIntosh Center in Anaheim since it was founded 10 years ago. “Verbal comedy is great for the blind, but . . . it presents a completely different problem for the deaf. There’s deaf theater, performed in sign language, that does get carried on in the county--there’s not enough of it but it does exist--and there are a growing number of performances with sign language interpreters.”

“On the other side of the fence, action-oriented programming is perfect for the deaf, but it doesn’t do much for the blind,” continued Premo, who has been legally blind since birth.

She thought a minute, then added with a naughty laugh: “You know what I’d really like to see? Vocal interpreters for the blind at the Laff Stop’s Monday night male strippers! You know, explaining just what’s going on. Now that would be fun.”

Sorry, Brenda. No male strippers for the blind this month. But the Laff Stop in Newport Beach, the Blue Frog Gallery in Fullerton, Saddleback College in Mission Viejo and Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa are all sponsoring shows and exhibits designed to fill the entertainment gap for the visually and aurally disabled. Each show will be open to the seeing and hearing public as well.

Tonight and Thursday night at 8 at Saddleback, 25 hearing and non-hearing performers will present “The Quiet Zone Theatre,” a benefit talent show produced by the college Sign Language Club in cooperation with several local organizations for the deaf. Organizers hope to raise about $6,000 to help establish a deaf children’s camp in Northern California.

“This is a real lighthearted show, with sort of an up-tempo vaudeville feeling to it,” producer Nancy Weston-Rupp said. Like most variety shows, it will feature skits and songs. But unlike standard shows, it will be performed entirely in American Sign Language. Hearing members of the audience won’t miss out, though: Two vocal interpreters will be there to guide them along.

“Sign language is so beautiful and so expressive,” Weston-Rupp said. “I’ve never seen a hearing person exposed to it (who) hasn’t been genuinely impressed. But how many people have really experienced it? You might get little snatches of it here or there--maybe you see a film like ‘Children of a Lesser God’--but what you’ve seen is a hearing person’s movie about sign. ‘The Quiet Zone Theatre’ is all sign.”

Weston-Rupp said “Quiet Zone” was formed with four purposes in mind. “First, we wanted to provide entertainment for the deaf community because their access to this kind of thing is so limited. Then, we wanted to introduce the hearing community to the language of sign in its more expressive form. It’s one thing to bring them into a room and say, ‘OK, we’re going to sign at you and teach you the language.’ It’s another to really show them how expressive the language can be.

“We also wanted to provide a forum for sign language students for the songs and skits they prepare as part of their class work. And in doing that, we were able to raise funds for an organization that helps support the deaf community.”

The “Quiet Zone” cast was drawn from sign language classes at Saddleback, Golden West and Rancho Santiago colleges, as well as from Southern California Recreation Assn. for the Deaf or SCRAD and Orange County Deaf and Greater Los Angeles Deaf or GLAD. Performers range in age from 20 to 65.

“As we went along, we’ve met some tremendously talented deaf artists who really have no place to perform. With these two performances, we’ve been able to provide a showcase for these people, while hopefully bridging a little bit of the gap between the hearing and deaf community.”

“The Quiet Zone Theatre” will be presented in Saddleback’s McKinney Theatre. Show time each night is 8 p.m.; tickets will cost $12 at the door. Call Joan Ellis at (714) 859-2283 for more information.

In comedy heaven, the laughs go on forever. And that is just what happens when hearing and non-hearing comedy fans get together, according to Janis Taylor, general manager of the Laff Stop comedy club in Newport Beach.

“Every joke gets a double laugh,” Taylor said. “There’s one laugh when the hearing audience responds to the bit, and a second when the sign language interpreter translates it for the deaf. And both groups have a great time through the whole thing.”

The Laff Stop held its first night for the deaf nine years ago, combining top hearing comedians with sign interpreters. Working through SCRAD board member Sheryl Hirsh, Taylor has coordinated another such event, to include two shows by four popular comics on Sunday.

“The shows will be just like our regular performances, except for the sign language interpreters,” Taylor said. “We’re not catering to anybody; it’s not ‘deaf humor.’ It’s just a great opportunity for the deaf and the hearing to get together and enjoy comedy.”

Taylor said SCRAD expects members from as far away as San Francisco to attend. “Deaf people will often come quite a distance for a function just because they enjoy getting together,” said interpreter Paula Dunn, who will share translating duties at the Laff Stop shows with Jeannine Harris.

Dunn added: “That’s what SCRAD is all about. . . . It enables the deaf to get together to do things in a common language they all understand.”

Even American Sign Language has its nuances, she said. Signing for comedy, for example, can differ in several ways from traditional conversational sign.

“A lot of comedians depend on plays on words, which may not translate well into sign,” she said. “For instance, ‘Hear’ and ‘here’ are two completely different signs. If we sign it verbatim, we might lose the humor. Instead, we might spell it out instead of signing it as a word or say something funny in sign that would still get the point across, but not change the meaning.”

The Laff Stop is at 2122 S.E. Bristol St., Newport Beach. Sunday’s shows will be at 3:30 and 6:30 p.m. Admission will be $6 for the hearing public; the hearing-impaired will be admitted free. For information, call (714) 852-8762.

Technical illustrator Ralph Zemke was 45 when his eyesight started to go. But although he has been legally blind now for more than 23 years, his eye for art is still sharp as a razor.

“I’ve always been an artist, so when I went to Braille Institute, I decided to take up ceramics,” Zemke said. “But I didn’t want to do just ashtrays and bowls. I wanted to create something.”

Turning to sculpture, he found institute arts instructor Pam Moore to be “a marvelous teacher. She gives a lot of tender loving care and helps us find our own best abilities.”

Zemke’s ceramic busts are being featured with other works by Braille arts students at the second annual Braille Exhibit, through March 31 at the Blue Frog gallery in Fullerton. The show, coordinated by Moore and gallery staff member Lisa Reynolds, includes varied pieces ranging from ceramics to quilts and basketry. Many are available for purchase.

In the institute’s crafts classes, Moore said, “each project is broken down into smaller skills and steps that the students can follow once they’re no longer with us, skills they can take away from Braille and use in their own leisure time at home, which of course is really the toughest time for them. Plus, they’re recreational and relaxing, which is very important for someone who’s going through such intensive retraining.”

By bringing her student’s work into the community, Moore wants to “show the public just what we can do.”

The Blue Frog Gallery is at 209 N. Euclid St., Fullerton. It is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and admission is free. For more information, call (714) 870-9474.

The Orange Coast College production of Mark Medoff’s “Children of a Lesser God” doesn’t open until June, but director Alex Golson is already hard at work. Earlier this week, he and American Sign Language consultant Lisa Marion auditioned hearing and deaf actresses for the role of Sarah, a deaf woman whose relationship with a hearing man represents the struggle between these two parts of society as they come to grips with each other’s needs. Final casting for Sarah and the male lead, Tim, will be announced.

“Deaf people are probably the most isolated members of our society,” said Golson, an OCC theater arts faculty member and sign language student.

“I think if we can draw attention to their needs and learn how to sign or communicate on some level with them, it would help all of us a great deal. I think this show will help build community awareness of that need.”

Does Golson expect any problems rehearsing deaf and hearing actors in the same show?

“Not at all. From what I’ve heard from other people who have worked with deaf actors, there’s usually no problem combining the two groups. Sometimes it even speeds up the process because the cast really gets behind it and works hard.”

OCC’s “Children of a Lesser God” will run in repertory with Larry Kramer’s play about the AIDS crisis, “The Normal Heart.” Call (714) 432-5880 for information.