JONESBOROUGH REPERTORY THEATRE

Stage Hands uses both spoken English and American Sign Language to communicate dialogue while acting out each play. The group takes both classic stories and the art of theatre into area schools. At the same time, Stage Hands introduces hearing children to the beauty of American Sign Language and Deaf culture.

Stage Hands celebrated its premier performance(s) Tuesday, May 6, 2008, with Aesop’s Fables. It held two shows for The Center of Excellence in Early Childhood Learning and Development at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, and an afternoon performance for Mountain Empire Baptist School and Deaf School in Bristol, TN.

In 2008, Stage Hands focused on the October Main Stage production of The Firebird by Evan Guilford-Blake.  In 2009, Stage Hands was thrilled to present The Signal Season of Dummy Hoy, by Allen Meyer & Michael Nowak. This fictional story was based on a non-fictional character, William Ellsworth (Dummy) Hoy, who was a professional baseball player at the turn of the 20th century and deaf.

In 2010 the production of Mye and the Sandpeople was performed in September. This story was about Mye of Tantamee, a young storyteller in search of inspiration, who wanders into the wacky land of Yarbankian.  In no time, with the help of the Sandpeople, Mungo the Music Maker, and the audience, Mye is caught up in a quest to help the beautiful deaf Empress Imperia recover her happiness (which was stored in a magic egg and subsequently stolen by the mysterious Bork).  From the opening scene to the dance marathon at the end, audience members of all ages are swept along by the magic, music and mayhem.

Stage Hands uses both spoken English and American Sign Language to communicate dialogue while acting out each play.  Shows are performed using shadow interpreting.  But more than just interpreting, the interpreters interact with the characters in the show and become characters themselves.  All Stage Hands performances are communication accessible to both hearing and Deaf audience members.

If you have questions, please email Janette Gaines at jrtstudents@yahoo.com and type: STAGE HANDS in the subject line.

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