Stage left, another spotlight highlights two performers. Their outfits are void of sequins. They don’t sing. In fact, for the entire show, no words cross their lips.
American Sign Language (ASL) performing arts interpreters Holly Thomas-Mowery and LaVona Andrew Carson bring multitudes of characters to life at the Morrison Center’s Broadway in Boise series and the Idaho Shakespeare Festival (ISF).
A New Role
“My dad is Deaf and my mom is a sign language interpreter, so I’ve done this as long as I can remember,” Andrew Carson said. “I started performing arts interpreting towards the end of high school. It's still fun.”
Thomas-Mowery started interpreting professionally at 20.
“The process of preparing for live-interpreting theater was mind-blowing to me, and I can't get enough of it,” she said.
Rehearse, Rehearse, Rehearse
After divvying up dozens of roles, show preparation takes several hundred hours.
“We make it look so easy,” Thomas-Mowery said. “I think people don't realize the incredible amount of work that goes into bringing any production into a whole other language, live, in cadence.”
“It helps to interpret from meaning, not the word for word,” Andrew Carson added.
For example, “Guns and Ships” from “Hamilton” is notoriously quick, with one section boasting 19 words in three seconds.
“We have to memorize those lines, and then I piece out what exactly is the point,” Thomas-Mowery said.
Translating also covers sounds and foreign languages, like the onomatopoeia and Hindi chanting in “TINA, the Tina Turner Musical.”
“We have very deep collaboration with the Deaf community, especially when it's nonsensical. When the chanting happens on stage, we don't just drop our hands and say, ‘Well, we don't know that language,’” Thomas-Mowery said. “It really breaks the fourth wall where the Deaf participant now realizes, ‘Oh wait, I'm just at a play’ as opposed to, ‘I'm involved and engaged in this story.’”
Showtime
During the pre-show and intermission, the interpreters provide theater patrons like Tara Adams with ‘scaffolding.’
“The interpreters will go over a list of name signs they’ll be using for each of the characters, as well as signs they're using for nonsensical terms,” she said. “Or they'll give us history on why a sign was selected to be used for that certain context. They prep us to make it so we don't have to work as hard to process the signing when the performance has already started. We can just sit back and enjoy the show.”
Sometimes scaffolding requires creativity.
“There’s an Agatha Christie ISF did a few years ago and there's a gunshot during the blackout,” Andrew Carson said. “We don't want to give away a spoiler. So sometimes we say there's going to be a very loud sound. And then it will be obvious what that was when the lights come up, and you can see there's a body. We want to ensure Deaf people have a parallel experience.”
Even with scripts and certain lines memorized, live theater demands flexibility.
“If something changes on stage, or if (the actors) deliver a line differently, we’ll follow what they’re doing right now,” Andrew Carson said. “We have to be familiar enough – trusting our own preparation, trusting our partner – that we can pivot immediately with whatever is happening on stage. I think that is the hallmark of really qualified performing arts interpreters.”
Expanding the Spotlight
The duo want more interpreters to ‘break a leg.’
“Us trying to grow that pool is starting out at hundreds of ASL interpreters, and then bringing it down to those who can even possibly imagine stepping on stage, and then going from that really small number to people who try it on for size,” Thomas-Mowery said.
“We work with experienced interpreters who are newer to performing arts type work,” Andrew Carson said. “We’ve taught workshops to show our process. We’re happy to be a support just to grow access and grow the performing arts interpreting community.”
Andrew Carson is also teaching a new generation with Idaho State University’s interpreter training program.
“Our undergraduate juniors will interpret Boise Music Week’s (‘Fiddler on the Roof’) performance,” she said. “They’ve done that since 2017.”
Accessible Magic
“We know that great live theater takes you as a person in your heart where you are, and when you leave the theater at the end, you're a different person, your heart is in a different place,” Andrew Carson said. “And for Deaf people to have that experience, just like their hearing family, their hearing friends, all of the other people in our community, and for them to be fully and equally included is really a transformative experience. Theater’s transformative for everybody who is open to that experience. But making sure people get that opportunity is so valuable.”
“Magic happens at the theater,” Thomas-Mowery said. “And I feel very fortunate to have this opportunity to be a small piece of making magic.”