Official Blog!! Go there for the updates!

Why Hear? by Guthrie Nutter

We will no longer post updates here. All information will be posted by the New Yorkers, led by their blogger, Guthrie.

Cheers!

In Solidarity,

Concerned Citizens

National Rally Postponed

National Rally for Deaf Artists scheduled for Nov. 4th postponed to a later date: TBA.

David Reynolds, Coordinator of the Bay Area Rally

Contact DR at doreynolds@sprint.blackberry.net or this doreynolds06@gmail.com if you'd like to participate and show your support for the Deaf Actors and Writers everywhere.

He will be coordinating a rally at a theater venue (TBA) in the Bay Area for Nov. 4th.

Thanks DR!

In Solidarity,

Concerned Citizen

An article... NYT Protest was mentioned.

Are the Disabled the Last Thought in the Diversity Business?

Here's the "How to" video!

1. Go to a City Hall

2. Apply for permit for a peaceful protest at an Arts Center or Theatrical venue

3. Make Posters with Short and Clear Message (Talking Points)

4. Call Local News (TV, Newspaper, Radio) and give them all the information

5. Invite your community to show up for few hours (provide food, water if can - make it fun)

6. Smile! Have a good time knowing you're making an important difference for the Deaf Actors and the signing community as a whole!

*** NOTE: I was informed that "protesters" cannot use wood to hold the poster because it can be considered as a weapon - use cardboard instead (or consult with the local police) ***

Social Justice in the Arts

CLERC SCAR 16 Extra 23 October 2009

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SOCIAL JUSTICE IN THE ARTS ala Words: 599 [Essay]  Is it possible for a white man to embody the role that was written for a character who is Black? Is it possible for a person with indistinguishable features to fully perform the role that was written for a character who has Downs syndrome? Is it possible for a hearing person to inhibit the role written for the body of a deaf being? Is it possible to fully present ones being in the same way that we can present one's story? Perhaps the bigger question here is: Knowing that there are qualified, unprivileged actors in the nation, should we step into that role, unintentionally oppressing our fellow human beings? Boldly stomping into a role that was never yours to begin with and calling it art?

 Someone recently questioned: Can a deaf person, then, not take on hearing roles? To this, I respond with two questions:

 What, exactly, is the role of a hearing person? Who is that character? And, can we even have this discussion in a day and age when there are not equally proportionate numbers of roles available for deaf characters?

 There has been much discussion (and perhaps the implication of blame) about playwright Rebecca Gilman’s decision to write a new adaption of Carson McCullers’s THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER, which involves a deaf character (John Singer) performing spoken monologues.

 I think her decision was a revolutionary one; I do not see her choice to write in "spoken" monologues one that directly results in the need to cast a hearing actor. Quite the opposite, in fact. After all, we all know that there are deaf individuals who speak and there are many ways to interpret the word, "spoken."

 Carly Sorge wrote, "I believe true art offers the greatest reflection the world can have of itself. It is concise and brutally honest."

 More than that, though, Ms. Gilman’s actions have allowed for a deaf being to fully emerge in theatre, a decision that clearly results in discomfort for directors like Doug Hughes. Doug Hughes, the director of the New York Theatre Workshop’s "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter," recently commented in a New York Times interview that he cannot, "In good conscience . . . fire Henry Stram." It was a fellow artist, T.S. Eliot, who wrote, "The last temptation is the greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason."

 Should we gracefully accept Hughes's reasoning, we are bending down, lowering our already bruised knees to kneel on gravel. We look at our children, signing and speaking deaf children in the eyes, and tell them that they can succeed. They can do anything, can be anyone. But then this happens; how true is such a statement? Have we lied?

 At one point in his Letter from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King wrote: "When you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky . . ."

 And in the same way that our ancestors borrowed this earth from us, the way we borrow it from our children: we must pass on a more just world. We will not do that from our kneeling perch on the ground but by standing tall and inviting the world to join us in sending out a gesture: "Stop, Stop, Stop."

 ===== We welcome letters to the editors in response to this piece. Send to editor@clercscar.com. We reserve the right to edit letters for space and clarity or not to publish a letter.  We are always open to submissions. Submit your writing, artwork, or video to editor@clercscar.com.

More and more mainstream media picking up...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lennard-davis/deaf-people-speak-out-aga_b_320923.html

http://www.clydefitchreport.com/?cat=3

Thanks Howie Seago for the links.