When I Wrote "A True Apology"...

When I wrote "A True Apology," I was thinking of Dack Virnig as the ideal actor to play the part of the Deaf young man who has run over his blind mother's seeing eye dog. I hope one day I get the pleasure of seeing him play this role. Dack played the Deaf son in my play "Silent Salzburg" that I produced at the California School for the Deaf in Fremont in the Fall of 2006. He was great.

Yesterday, I finally sent him a PDF of the script. Based upon his Facebook postings, Dack is apparently doing a lot of acting at NTID in Rochester, NY. So I'm thinking maybe if he likes my short play enough, he can pull together the people to do it. I sure would like to see another production of it. I sent the script to a small New York theatre called Theatre Breaking Through Barriers a couple of months ago. This company is dedicated to giving actors with disabilities opportunities to act. Haven't heard any thing back.

The premiere production of "A True Apology" is a part of the Pear Avenue Theatre's Pear Slices new play festival and will be coming to a close this weekend. I hope to have a few more friends that have ties to the Deaf community to see it before it's all over. The Saturday performance is sold out, but I understand the three other performances still have seats. www.thepear.org

Deaf Daughter's Review of "A True Apology"

Yesterday, I brought my daughter Miranda to the Pear Avenue Theatre to see my play that I'm acting in called "A True Apology." I am playing the part of a deaf man who runs over his mother's seeing eye dog and needs his sister to interpret his apology. Miranda is the real and only critic I really care about for this piece.

Because "A True Apology" is one of eight short plays in "Pear Slices 2009" and the only one that's Deaf friendly, I ushered Miranda into the house after intermission so she wouldn't be bored out of her mind sitting through pieces that weren't interpreted for her.

Since the stage manager Johana knows some sign, she volunteered to have Miranda sit in the booth with her to watch the show.

As we performed "A True Apology", I had two trains of thought going on. One was just following along and doing my part with my fellow actors, and the other was wondering if Miranda was going to get this section or understand what we were doing.

I am happy to report that Miranda did not say she was bored or that she didn't like it. When I asked her if she understood what the play was about, she said she had and smiled. Johana did tell me later that Randi ask if I really had signed "fuck" when my character gets mad at his mother for her insistence on being apologized to. She was a little shocked by this, I guess.

After curtain call, I talked to my daughter more about the show and she was amused by the idea that a service dog would want to commit suicide. The only other comment she would offer is that she didn't like the sister (Helena Clarkson) character's signing. I knew she would say this, but I explained that she'd only being signing a few weeks. "Well, I couldn't understand her," was Randi response. Later, though when she met Helena, they chatted in sign a little in the lobby.

The Deaf are like the French when it comes to their language. They value it so much and don't like to see it used improperly...knowing this has always intimidated me when I sign with Deaf adults. Anyway, "A True Apology" has gotten a big thumbs up from my deaf daughter and has only 4 more performances left at the Pear: http://www.thepear.org/.