Whatcom Independent Review
Deaf director broadens mainstream awareness
Dawn Stoyanoff weaves ASL into theatre festival
by Sara GeBalle
May 4-10, 2006
“When I took this assignment, my heart, mind, and soul agreed to do it,” explained Lummi Island actor and director Dawn Stoyanoff, speaking of her current directorial stint at the Mae West Festival in Seattle from May 18-21.
“We are thrilled to have Dawn be part of the festival,” said Mae West Publicist Margaret O’Malley, pointing out that Stoyanoff is their first-ever deaf director, as well as their only participant from Whatcom County this year.
Stoyanoff will be directing the play “Jeopardy Gaping” written by Roxanne Ray, who is also the festival’s co-artistic director. All the cast members are hearing. So at each rehearsal, Stoyanoff has arranged for two American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters to be present – both to sign the hearing actors’ lines and also to voice back to the hearing cast members all of Stoyanoff’s signed directorial comments and suggestions.
“It’s normal that many hearing people are awkward at first when working with interpreters,” Stoyanoff explained. “When I sense the awkwardness, I tend to draw on my sense of humor and hope they’ll warm up.” She said she has been acting and directing since 1991, especially with Seattle Children’s Theatre’s Deaf Youth Drama Program and at Western Washington University, where she earned her Masters degree in Theatre Arts in 2004.
Playwright Ray and Stoyanoff first met last November when Stoyanoff auditioned for and was cast in another of Ray’s plays, “Wild White Rose,” produced by the Experimental Theatre Project in Seattle. Toward the end of that production, Stoyanoff recalled, “I approached Roxanne and expressed my interest in doing some directing work with her.” Months later, when “Jeopardy Gaping” was chosen as one of the plays for this year’s Mae West Festival, Ray let the staff know she already had her director in mind, and it was Stoyanoff. Or as O’Malley put it, “it was a package deal,” meaning accepting Ray’s play meant Stoyanoff would be its director.
According to Ray, “After communicating with several directors about possibly directing ‘Jeopardy Gaping,’ Dawn seemed to have the most clear and enthusiastic understanding of the play.” In an interview with the WI shortly after rehearsals began, Ray said of Stoyanoff, “…I believe she is very attuned to the physicalization required of actors, and was impressed with her very character-appropriate selection of the cast.”
“Jeopardy Gaping” is a surreal comedy set in the waiting room of a physical therapy office. Taking place over 20 weeks, the play shows the often absurd waiting room interactions of six women patients while exploring much larger issues – especially missed opportunities for peace and compassion.
All performances of “Jeopardy Gaping” will be ASL interpreted. But rather than standing off to the side as is typically seen at most interpreted shows, the interpreters for this play will be fully blocked into stage movements throughout the performance. This will make it easier for deaf audience members to follow both the dialog and action.
“I have always been interested in theater,” remarked Stoyanoff, who grew up in Duluth, MN and moved to Whatcom County about seven years ago. Theater is a difficult career path for anyone, but for a deaf actor there are extra challenges. So to have a second career to fall back on if theater didn’t work out, Stoyanoff decided to earn her bachelors degree in psychology. For years she worked with children and also taught sign language classes. “For a long time I wanted a masters degree in theater,” she admitted, “but didn’t want to risk it yet.” Then when she met her husband, fell in love, and they decided to move to the Northwest, she felt the time was finally right. “That was it,” she said. “My mind said: ‘yes, you’re ready!’” She was soon accepted to Western’s Theater Arts program.
When asked about her future acting and directing goals, Stoyanoff reflected, “That’s a hard question to answer because theater is a difficult field for a deaf woman. I don’t know where I am going to go with this, but it’s my strong desire to stick with acting and directing through thick and thin. I want to stay on the path I’m most passionate about. There’s no pleasure in working jobs that you hate.”
About her personal involvement in this year’s Mae West Festival Stoyanoff said, “It's a good contribution toward diversity” for a festival whose mission is to advance the careers of women in theater. At the Mae West Festival, now in its ninth year, all the plays are written and directed by women (however, there are male actors). This year’s festival features more than 25 plays written by women from across the country.
According to playwright Ray, “I am also very excited this play is included in the Mae West Festival because it helps to broaden the festival’s presentation of the diversity of women in the Seattle area. The production will offer mainstream, hearing audiences wider exposure both to Dawn, as a director, and to ASL and deaf culture in general.”
According to festival publicist O’Malley, “I really want to reach out to the deaf community and let them know about this show. We also hope people from Bellingham will take the day trip down to the festival.”
“I’m on the right path,” Stoyanoff confirmed. “This fits me like a glove, despite the long wait.” |
