A Plea to Deaf West

Re: the Deaf West Theatre’s expanding mission to stage drama productions in American Sign Language (ASL) using both deaf and hearing actors (“Working With Heart and Hands,” by Daryl H. Miller, March 5):

As a fourth-generation deaf person myself and fluent in ASL and spoken and written English, I was disappointed by Deaf West’s “A Streetcar Named Desire,” largely because of the casting of a hearing actress, Suanne Spoke, as Blanche DuBois. Her ASL skills are not exemplary and thus it was a struggle for me to follow her lines, as opposed to the deaf members of the cast.

Ideally, a theater of and by the deaf should present ASL in its brilliant artistry and graceful fluidity, not to be mangled by other actors with lesser skills. When using a single English word, ASL can present it in infinite ways, thus adding color, nuances and levels of meaning, something that was lacking in Spoke’s sign language delivery. One doesn’t go and pay to hear actors with poorly trained voices. By the same measure, deaf theatergoers like myself shouldn’t be subjected to eyestrain and struggle to watch actors with poor ASL skills.

A better solution, if Deaf West Theatre must use a hearing actor or actress, is to use those with highly proficient ASL skills, such as those who were born to deaf parents and grew up with ASL, or voice/sign language translators who could act well. Or relegate those with poor ASL skills to a few lines as to minimize the disruption of visual ease.

If I had a choice, I’d much rather have Freda Norman, a brilliant deaf actress who acted in previous Deaf West productions, as Blanche herself.

IRA JAY ROTHENBERG

North Hollywood