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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 1985)
students. Jackson warmed in her delivery of “ Christmas is a Feeling," and provided a nicely complementary harmonic addition to the Chorus's later offerings with her rich and yet somehow delicate voice. “Children of a Lesser G od" opens at IFCC The production of the Christmas concert was simple and unpretentious, yet effective. Instrumental accompaniment was spare but excellently executed. There were several oc casions where solo performances, both vocal and instrumental, should have been accorded more amplification, but this wasn't a major problem. The lighting effects provided a nice touch and were on several occasions rather striking and colorful, but were never mysteri ously complex. The final setting was pleas antly forested and tiered, and set up amaz ingly quickly. The IFCC proudly announces me him locally-produced performances of Mark Medoff s Tony Award winning play. Children o f a Lesser God. playing January 4-27 at the IFCC. 5340 M. Interstate Avenue. Portland. This deeply moving, beautifully written comedy-drama details the romance, conflicts and marriage of a sensitive but spirited deaf woman and the devoted [and hearing) teacher whom she meets at a school for the deaf. Mew York critics also gave the Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk Awards to this play, calling it “ a major event, a play of great importance, full of love, understanding and passion.” The audience’s empathy with the per formers was especially evident when, on sev eral occasions when members of the chorus had to move the bleacher platform up or down the stage floor, they applauded good- naturedly. The atmosphere for the evening was one of pleasant camaraderie, and the points at where the seams of the production showed only served to strengthen the bonds between the performers and the audience. This sense of community reached a sym bolic climax with the performance by the Chorus of "Do You Hear What I Hear?" with the moving sign language accompaniment of Steven Poole, and then reached its true culmination in the — too-short, it seemed — Christmas Sing-Along finale. Following a Chorus Christmas medley, the effect was of a musical whirlwind, with only a verse or so of each song. Couldn't the magic have lasted longer? But all things must come to an end. Curiously, of the local media, only the Ore gonian was at all sensitive to the momen tousness of an openly gay organization performing at such an event. When the Mew York touring company of Children o f a Lesser God came through Portland a few years ago, it played four performances in the cavernous Civic Audi torium. Many who saw it had difficulty seeing and/ or hearing both the spoken and signed lang uage. and were disappointed by the lack of intimacy and immediacy of the performance. The IFCC's theatre space seats only 100 persons with excellent sightlines, guarantee ing a comfortable, first-hand theatre experi ence for all audience members, hearing- impaired and otherwise. Children o f a Lesser God features a unique collaboration of Portland area theatre artists. Rollie WulfT will direct the production, in consultation with Henry Stack of Van couver's Morthwest Theatre of the Deaf, and Mark Azure of Deaf Arts Council of Oregon. Timothy Gero is Assistant Director/lnter- preter. The leading roles of a speech therapist and the totally deaf student who becomes his photo by Jason Lynch Sam M owry a n d Georgi Randall in C h ild re n o f a Lesser G o d . wife will be played by Sam A. Mowry and Georgi Randall, a deaf actress who has worked with Morthwest Theatre of the Deaf. Completing the cast are Jeff Miller, Betty Brooks and Michele Mariana (both of whom have worked extensively with MW Theatre of the Deaf), and Sara Yerkes and Gary Holden, both of whom are hearing-impaired actors playing deaf characters. Scene and lighting design is by Jason Matthew Lynch. Performances of Children o f a Lesser God are at 8:00 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2:00 p.m. Sundays, January 4-27. Tickets are $6 regular and $4 students and seniors. A ll performances will be accessible for both hearing and deaf audiences, as much of the dialogue is both signed and spoken by the characters themselves, and interpreters will sign all dialogue that is spoken only. This production is made possible in part by a generous grant from the Collins Founda tion. Call Sue Busby or Gary O'Brien at the IFCC. 243-7930, for reservations for further information. This number is TTY accessible. V il l i I I 8 > l» v t h e < BÉ1LE MARC! 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