Showcasing Deaf Talent: Incorporating ASL on Stage
with Leah C. Gardiner, Sam Gold, and Sheryl Kaller
Moderated by Alexandria Wailes
ASL interpreters: Candace Broecker-Penn, Justine Rivera, Heather Rossi, Monique Sarp
Monday October 28th, 2019
In collaboration with tall poPpy, inc.
LEAH C. GARDINER is an Obie Award-winning director known for the “incisive clarity” (New York Times) of her work with physicality and text. Her work, ranging from Pulitzer-finalist new plays to Shakespeare to musicals, has been seen across the U.S., and in England and Japan. Recent: Revival of Ntozake Shange’s seminal choreopoem, For Colored Girls… (Public Theater); If Pretty Hurts… by Tori Sampson (Playwrights Horizons); and Sheepdog by Kevin Artigue (South Coast Rep, premiere). She is currently working with “insta-poet” Rupi Kaur to adapt Kaur’s internationally acclaimed poetry for the theatre, and is developing two new musicals: an adaptation of Alexander McCall Smith’s No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency books (also co-book writer); and an original musical with book by Robert O’Hara, for producers George C. Wolfe and Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures. She can be seen playing herself in Ira Sachs’ film Little Men opposite Greg Kinnear.
SAM GOLD is a Tony Award-winning director based in Brooklyn, NY. His Broadway credits include: King Lear; A Doll’s House, Part 2 (Tony Award nomination); The Glass Menagerie; Fun Home (Tony Award); The Real Thing; The Realistic Joneses; Picnic; Seminar. Recent productions include: The Secret Life of Bees (Atlantic Theatre Company); Hamlet (The Public Theater); Othello (New York Theatre Workshop); The Flick (Barrow Street Theatre, Playwrights Horizons, National Theatre; Lortel Award nomination); The Glass Menagerie (Toneelgroep Amsterdam); John (Signature Theatre; Obie Award, Lortel and Drama Desk Award nominations); The Village Bike (MCC); Uncle Vanya (Soho Repertory Theatre; Drama Desk nomination); The Realistic Joneses (Yale Repertory Theatre); The Cradle Will Rock (Encores! Off-Center); Kin (Playwrights Horizons); The Big Meal (Playwrights Horizons; Lortel); Look Back in Anger (Roundabout Theatre Company; Lortel nomination); Circle Mirror Transformation (Playwrights Horizons; Obie, Drama Desk nomination); The Aliens (Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre; Obie Award). Training: The Juilliard School.
SHERYL KALLER most recently directed The White Chip by Sean Daniels at 59 E 59 and A Walk On The Moon by Paul Scott Goodman and Pamela Grey at A.C.T. She directed Terrence McNally’s Tony Award-nominated play on Broadway, Mothers And Sons, with Tyne Daly. Sheryl received a Tony Award nomination for Best Director for the Broadway production of Next Fall by Geoffrey Nauffts. Recent projects include Frozen for Disney Cruise Lines, Our Town with Deaf West Theater and Pasadena Playhouse, Sacred Valley by Josh Radnor at NYSAF, The White Chip by Sean Daniels, and Choice by Winnie Holzman. She also recently directed the world premieres of Billy Porter’s play While I Yet Live at Primary Stages, Nick Blaemire’s A Little More Alive (Barrington Stage and Kansas City Rep), Roundabout Theater Company’s Underground production of Too Much Too Much Too Many, by Meghan Kennedy, and the LCT3 production of Mr. Joy, by Daniel Beaty. She’s is currently in development on a new Josh Radnor project and Switched by Jonathan Brooke and Geoffrey Nauffts, among others. Upcoming: Bliss by Tyler Beattie and Emma Lively at Seattle 5th Avenue Theater—February 2020 and A Walk On The Moon at George Street Playhouse—May 2020.
ALEXANDRIA WAILES is currently Lady in Purple in For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf at The Public. She was also in their production of Mother Courage. Broadway: Deaf West’s Spring Awakening, Big River (Tony Honoree for Ensemble). Off Broadway: Playwright Horizon’s I Was Most Alive with You, A Kind Of Alaska. Regional: Gruesome Playground Injuries, Love Person, Sleeping Beauty Wakes (LA Ovation nominated), Pasadena Playhouse’s Our Town. Film: “The Hyperglot,” Scenes from the Underground. TV: “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” “High Maintenance,” “Little America,” “Nurse Jackie.” Web: “Don’t Shoot the Messenger.” Director of Artistic Sign Language credentials on the revival of Broadway’s Children of a Lesser God and King Lear plus numerous off Broadway and regional theatre TV/Film: “This Close,” S. 1 & 2; “Quantico,” S.3; A Quiet Place 1 & 2; Wonderstruck. Ms. Wailes has advised ASL interpreted teams for Hands On and TDF on shows such as Dear Evan Hansen, Aladdin, Book of Mormon, School of Rock, Kinky Boots and Thérèse Raquin to name a few.
tall poPpy, inc. : Formed in 2017, tall poPpy is an artist-led social enterprise which seeks to instigate systemic change in theatre. Co-founders Jeanine Tesori, Torya Beard, and Darren Biggart develop programs that center those who are often marginalized. They bring artists together to create work, develop opportunities, and interact with issues that are relevant to the community at large. Artists in Residence: Ayodele Casel (World Premiere: While I Have the Floor, Spoleto Arts Festival), Alex Puette (Developmental Residency). Education & Advocacy: Town Halls with Harvard University, Pace University, Emory & Henry College; Project DASL campaign (in development). www.tallpoppyartists.com