Those of you who enjoy going to the theater to watch a play or musical may have noticed some person following behind the actual actors as they speak, move around and try and give you and the rest of the audience a fantastic performance. You may have also noticed this person, as the actors speak, are moving their hands around in gestures and the like. What are they doing? Why are they there? And who are they?
They are called “shadow interpreters,” shadow interpreters are communicating to members of the audience who are deaf. Yes, you read that right: there are deaf people who go to the theater to watch plays and musicals just like the rest of us. Their purpose is to help deaf members in the audience better follow and understand the dialogues and actions of the various actors while the play transpires.
Shadow interpreting has become the most popular form of sign language integration into the theater in recent times, in part because deaf viewers don’t have to shift their attention between an interpreter standing off-stage and the actual play and the actions of the actors on-stage. Thus, deaf viewers can focus on the play and be able to understand what is going on at the same time.
In addition, hearing viewers tends to quickly get used to seeing the interpreters on stage since in some way or another they are integrated into the show. Interpreters sometimes may have their own roles in the play or act as extensions of the actors they are shadowing. Often then, this allows the interpreters to easily blend into the show.
There are a few drawbacks to shadow interpreting, however. One is that because traditional interpreters do not require their own costumes and makeup while they are interpreting, they are not usually involved in rehearsals. Whereas shadow interpreters are usually expected to be in-costume and be involved in rehearsals due to their blending into the play itself. For this reason, the shadow interpreter is often incorporated from the very start of the play, making it very time-consuming for all involved.
Sinclair usually holds one or two ASL interpreting performances with every play offered in the Blair Hall Theater, which is in Building 2. The current play, As It Is In Heaven, will have an interpreted performance on Thursday, February 18th at 7:00 p.m.
Christopher Witt
Reporter