Deaf and hearing actors from Cleveland SignStage on Tour bring the adventurous story “James and the Giant Peach” to life through sign and speech in an adaptation of the classic story.
Based on the book by Roald Dahl, with Deaf Theatre adaptation by William Morgan, “James and the Giant Peach” tells of James Trotter, whose life was great until a rhinoceros came and changed everything. Suddenly he was an orphan sent to live with his mean Aunt Spiker and cruel Aunt Sponge. One day while working in the garden, a mysterious man gives James a gift that changes his life again and it involves a magical peach.
Join James on his exciting adventure inside the biggest peach the world has ever seen. As he leaves behind the sadness of his life with his vicious aunts, James sets forth on a journey with larger than life-sized wise old green Grasshopper, the eternally pessimistic Earthworm, and others. In this tale of friendship, love, sadness and triumph, James and his new friends see oceans and cloudmakers, are towed through the sky by seagulls and create a stir in the "Big Apple" when their gigantic peach lands on the Empire State Building.
SignStage on Tour specializes in American Sign Language Theatre where deaf and hearing actors perform together on stage. Whenever a character speaks, the character speaking uses sign language but you’ll always hear the voice too. The voice comes from a different actor speaking through a microphone, sometimes on-stage and sometimes off-stage. Visually, the stage is filled with the movement of hands and bodies yet every word is spoken to make sure all audience members, both deaf and hearing, don’t miss a thing. It’s a magical blend of language created when performing a play simultaneously in spoken English and in the spatial beauty of American Sign Language.
This performance is part of The Smith’s 2007/08 "ArtSmart Theatre for Young People Series." The final show in the series is "Harry the Dirty Dog" on June 4.
Tickets are $4.50. This hour-long show is open to all school audiences and the general public. The play is intended for children ages five and up.
Funding for this production was made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts, the Lyons National Bank, and the Delavan Foundation.
