reminded me of the audience in the Ed Sullivan Theatre when The
Beatles first appeared in America.
GLEE
was just beginning to crest
its huge wave of success. I will never forget the look on Cory’s face as
we exited the stage at the end of the evening. He stood next to the fly
rails with the most innocent and humble expression, slowly shook his
head and softly said, “Wow. I wasn’t prepared for that [reaction].” I put
my hand on his shoulder and said, “Get used to it. This is just the tip
of the iceberg.” Cory Monteith’s death in 2013 at the age of 31, was a
great shock and a huge, tragic loss.
ACCESS THEATRE FULL CIRCLE –
DEAF WEST’S SPRING AWAKENING
One of the most powerful and memorable shows I saw in New
York was Deaf West’s fresh restaging of the musical
Spring Awakening
.
It had a hugely successful run in Los Angeles that propelled it to
Broadway. Watching deaf and hearing actors, and an actress who uses
a wheelchair fully mainstreamed in this production gave me goose
bumps recalling the 18 years of pioneering accessible theatre with
Access Theatre as we toured the nation.
My connection with Deaf West goes back to the friendship I
developed with deaf actors
Ed Waterstreet
and his wife
Linda Bove
.
Honorary Board Member of Access Theatre,
Michael Douglas
,
(from left)
Rod Lathim, Cory Monteith, Jane
Lynch and Mike O’Malley on stage at the GLEE at the
Luke event
(photo: David Bazemore)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Jane Lynch celebrate at
the GLEE at the Luke after party
(circa 2010)
Kirk Douglas, deaf actor CJ Jones, Rod Lathim,
and Michael Douglas at a Benefit Premiere at the
Arlington Theatre in Santa Barbara
(photo credit: Richard Carter)
– ON THE ARTS
introduced me to The National Theatre of the Deaf (NTD) and
arranged for me to visit and work with their company in 1981 at the
Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center in Connecticut. Ed and Linda were
company members and years later moved to Los Angeles where they
founded Deaf West. Since the closure of NTD, Deaf West carried the
torch of excellence for deaf theatre in the USA. Their production of
the musical
BIG RIVER
wowed Broadway audiences in 2003
.
Linda
36
winter
|
spring
