Deaf Side Story: Deaf Sharks, Hearing Jets, and a Classic American Musical

Brewer turned to the Illinois School for the Deaf (ISD) to cast the Sharks, the Puerto Rican gang at odds with the Anglo Jets in this musical version of "Romeo and Juliet" set in the slums of New York. Hearing performers auditioned to be the Jets, and once Brewer had cast her hearing Tony and deaf Maria, then came the challenge of teaching them all to sing/sign and dance the riveting show numbers for which the musical is renowned. She also had to manage a series of sensitive issues, from ensuring the seamless incorporation of American Sign Language into the play to reassuring ISD administrators and students that the production would not be symbolic of any conflict between Deaf and hearing people.

Author Mark Rigney portrays superbly the progress of the production, including the frustrations and triumphs of the leads, the labyrinthine campus and community politics, and the inevitable clashes between the deaf high school cast members and their hearing college counterparts. His representations of the many individuals involved are real and distinguished. The ultimate success of the MacMurray production reverberates in "Deaf Side Story" as a keen depiction of how several distinct individuals from as many cultures could cooperate to perform a classic American art form brilliantly together.

How the director and staff managed to pull it off is an inspirational suspense tale unsurpassed in amateur theatre (maybe professional theatre as well). Does your spirit need a lift? Read this book.


Get Cool Boy! Read Deaf Side Story   July 2, 2004
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

Fans of theatre, American Sign Language and Deaf culture and/or multicultural studies will LOVE Deaf Side Story. It's a tale of the hard work, perseverance, and joy that is educational theatre, peppered with the challenges of a multi-lingual company of players. The dynamics of Deaf and hearing actors, students and theatre professionals make a riveting story. Mr. Rigney's inside view of the production makes this a truly personal piece - readers get to know the players personally and become almost as attached to the outcome as the cast and production team. I highly recommend this book!


An exhilarating read!   April 27, 2004
 2 out of 2 found this review helpful

Probably because Mark Rigney is primarily novelist, writer of short stories, and playwright, this book gallops along as if it were fiction, and keeps the reader's interest riveted cover to cover. The story is of an extraordinary theatrical accomplishment: a production of West Side Story with the Anglo gang-the Jets-played by hearing actors, and the rival Puerto Ricans-the Sharks-by deaf students. The venue was a makeshift theater at a small liberal arts college in Jacksonville, Illinois; the town happens to be also the home of a school for the deaf. The director of the show was Diane Brewer, who is young, ambitious and very brave-and, at the time, pregnant.. Apart from the descriptions of the nail-biting drama of getting the show to work-don't forget we are talking about a musical no less-the book offers a rare glimpse into Deaf culture and the fascinating languages used to communicate. The final triumph of the play was not only a rousing good performance with standing-room-only audiences, but also a definite breakthrough in the barriers that separate the worlds of the hearing and the Deaf. Get this book for an exhilarating read, and for a learning experience with no pain. My only sadness is that there were too few photographs-which caused me regretfully to drop one star.


A must-read for all theater-goers!   March 17, 2004
 4 out of 4 found this review helpful

Right on the heels of Deaf West Theatre's successful deaf/hearing Broadway production of the musical "Big River," this fascinating book explores one small Midwest college's similarly experimental production of "West Side Story." Author Mark Rigney eloquently and passionately explores the divide between theatre for the deaf and theatre for the hearing, intimating that this rupture runs deeper than any American is willing to admit. As a member of the hearing community, I was shocked to learn how much I don't know about the lives of the deaf. As a member of the theatre community, I was taken on a spellbinding journey through the trials and tribulations of a production riddled with hurdles but blessed with triumphs. As a member of the world community, I was heartened by the success of communication across boundaries in a seemingly boundary-less small town. This was definitely a page turner from beginning to end...just the right balance of information and entertainment. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in theater, the deaf community and its position in society, and/or interpersonal communication.