Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (May 1, 1985)
C hildren o f a Lesser G o d b y J im A n c til C h ild re n o f a Lesser God, by Mark Medoff, is playing at the Sumus Theatre. This is welcome news to those who missed its run recently at the IFCC. That production, origi nally directed by Rollie Wulff and produced by Gary O ’Brien, has now been remounted. It is directed by Hank Stack (noted for his work with the Northwest Theatre of the Deaf) in a new location at the Sumus Theatre, 13 N.W. 13th. This revival utilizes all the original cast members, who have now had the advantage of playing together for some time. They are superbly at home with the play and their characterizations. In this new production they have achieved even more depth as well as sharper delineations of character. This play should be of considerable interest to the gay community for several reasons. The play has won numerous awards, includ ing a Tony and the Critics Circle award in New York. The Portland production of this important play gives us the opportunity to examine in detail how a minority, in this case deaf people, are treated by the larger society and how they develop their own sense of identity. There are several themes in the play which apply directly to the gay experience. This production is designed to be entirely accessible to both the deaf and hearing members of the audience, as all dialogue is both spoken and signed simultaneously. For those who have never had the chance to appreciate the beauty of American Sign Language, this is a unique experience. Briefly, C h ild re n o f a Lesser God is the love story of James Leeds (Sam A. Mowry), newly employed speech therapist at a residential school for the deaf, and Sarah Norman (Georgi Randall), deaf resident at the school since childhood, first as a student and later as a maid in the dormitory. James tries to teach Sarah to speak and lipread and ends up falling in love with her. Another student, Lydia (Kathy Butts-Bemunzio) is very attracted to James and feels that her ability to speak and her only partial hearing loss make her more attractive to him than Sarah. James visits Sarah’s mother (Betty Brooks) in futile efforts to understand Sarah’s isolation. Meanwhile, Orin (Gary Holden), a hearing-impaired stu dent at the school who speaks and lipreads, is in open rebellion against Mr. Franklin (Jeff Miller), hearing superintendent of the school. Orin attempts to draw Sarah and James into his struggles to have the school employ more deaf personnel and give the students more freedom of choice. Orin hires a lawyer (Michele Fulves) to file a complaint against the school with the Equal Employment Op portunity Commission. In the various con frontations, our interest is kept centered on James and Sarah as they grow gradually to understand the meaning of their love for each other. (Timothy Gero and Paul Bernunzio in terpret all dialogue). Gay members of the audience will see how this deeply moving story applies to their own experience. Like deaf and hearing-impaired people, gay people are both a part of and isolated from the larger society. They have all the same needs and desires, yet their special perceptions and needs separate them from the understanding of the majority. Both minorities cross all societal lines, existing in all economic classes, all ethnic and religious groups. Gays as well as hearing-impaired of ten pass unnoticed in a crowd and so melt into the larger society, yet find themselves discriminated against whenever they are perceived as different by the society. Their isolation reinforces their sense of difference and separate identity, yet at the same time often undermines their self-worth, their ap Ju*t Out M ov 1985 preciation of themselves and others. Their values often seem to run counter to the goals of society and are often perceived as narrow or unorthodox, even as a threat to the major ity. How many gays out in a social setting have glanced over at the deaf folks and wondered what it is they could have to talk about in such an animated and demonstra tive way? Strange to say, the deaf people are most likely discussing the very same sorts of things and laughing at the very same funny situations that the rest of us are. But because so many of them have great difficulty speak ing to us in our language, we tend to leave them alone. "Speech is not a specious but a sacred sanction, secured by solemn sacrifice.’’ This is a spoken exercise James uses in teaching Orin to pronounce certain sounds, but it also states one of the main themes of the play. Speech is a means of communication, and it is the breakdown of communication which is the chief cause of misunderstanding between minority and majority. Speech should not be intentionally deceptive, but rather ought to be considered sacred, worthy of respect and honored, supporting and encouraging us in our personal interactions. Communication also involves a certain sacrifice, both an of fering and a giving up of a part of oneself to the other. Both parties have to be willing to reach out if we are to end our isolation from the majority (and each other). Are we really reaching out enough? The conflicts within the character of Sarah point up another paradox in our own relation ship to society. We are often our own worst enemies. Sarah as a child was diagnosed as both retarded and deaf, and it was only later discovered that in fact she was not retarded, but instead very intelligent It was both her inability and her unwillingness to communi cate which held her back. Is this so very diffe rent from the gay experience? Sarah’s anger against those around her, particularly those who wished to help her, only served to isolate her further. The play begins with her signing to James: "I have nothing; no hearing, no speech, no intelligence, no language. I have only you. I don't need you. I have me alone. Joined, (I remain) unjoined.” The tragedy is especially poignant when a minority discriminates within itself, as for ex ample, the hard-of-hearing who speak and lipread feeling superior to and attempting to control those totally deaf from birth who neither speak nor lipread. An analogy might be drawn with white gays who discriminate against racial minorities even within the gay community, or those gay men who disap prove of and avoid contact with lesbians (or vice versa). Racism and sexism are ugly any where, but they are especially ugly when they exist within our own small minority. This also, of course, supports the attitude of the op pressing majority population (Franklin in the play). They would like nothing better than to see us divided (and squabbling) among our- selves, thus diluting our power even further. When it comes time to organize a Lesbian and Gay Pride March, and the lesbian or ethnic or older gay or physically challenged segments of our community do not feel properly represented, we must know we are thwarting our own best interests. When the question of signing at the PGMC concerts comes up (which no doubt it will again) and someone objects that we cannot cater to every tiny segment or disability, I say that yes. we had better take the trouble and serve those needs. If we cannot trouble ourselves to overcome the neglect and discrimination within our own community, we can hardly be surprised at the kind of treatment we receive from the larger society. The theme of power and control over others is woven throughout the play. Sarah’s refusal to admit first her mother and then James Leeds into her emotional world is a way of controlling them. It is only through supreme effort that James finally succeeds in penetrating her silence (a powerful symbol in itself). Lydia tries to control James by offering him easy sex. Orin (whom Sarah refers to as an "asslicker’’) objects when Sarah moves across the street to live with James after their marriage. Orin insists that her marriage is not as important as deaf rights and solidarity within the deaf community. He accuses her of being a phony hearing person. James says: "It's the oldest trick in the repressed-minority handbook. He wants you to feel guilty for leaving the flock." Orin in effect wants to be "guardian of all the deaf children," one of several possible meanings of the play’s title. In the figure of Franklin we see how the larger society both controls us and gets us to do its dirty work for it. When James first at tempts to communicate with Sarah and she closes him out, they have an argument and she storms off with him shouting behind her. Franklin asks him what he's doing, and James replies he is trying out a new techni I ^ que. Franklin: "What’s it called — rape?. . . Mr. Leeds — James — Jim bo, we don’t forni cate with the students. We just screw them over. If you ever get the two confused . . . you’re gone." Franklin manipulates and de means the institutionalized students under the guise of protecting them from the world. W hen Orin brings legal proceedings against the school, Franklin says: “The commission will find in their favor they always find in favor of the downtrodden. Why not? They know they haven’t got an ounce of legal power. They're merely one of those liberal showcase apparatus whose opinion no one is bound to abide by." He will make Orin and Sarah take him through the appeal courts for years," ... because as despicable as it may seem, I won’t continue in this field if the subjects of my efforts are going to tell me how to minister to them.” Gays need to remember this as they press for congressional passage of a gay rights bill. They will need much more than a legal document to protect their rights. One thing they will need is to build active solidarity with a ll minority groups. Another important theme in C h ild re n is that of closing the gap between us. The bridge gam e in the second act is a symbol for the need of the deaf and the hearing worlds to "bridge" their differences. In American Sign Language, the sign made by the thumb and forefinger of each hand joined in two inter locking rings carries many meanings, de pending how it is used — join/unite/ connect/share a relationship/to be an indi vidual yet as one with another person. Com munication is the heart of the difficulty that deaf people (as all minorities) share. I say "heart" on purpose, for it is only here that we can effectively join together and com m uni cate. Can we not see the parallels in the gay experience? Performances of C h ild re n o f a Lesser G od continue through May 12th and definitely merit the attention of all audiences. So we offer a number of services Home/Business Hauling-Large & Small Lana Maintenance Errands Odd Jobs Recycling You Name Itl INT/EXT Painting Sign Painting Clean-up Gutters Windows REDBIRD PRODUCTIONS 235-9177 Terri GAY MEN’S CHORUS OF LOS ANGELES Jerry Carlson, Conductor PORTLAND GAY MEN’S CHORUS David York Conductor in the ARLENE SCHNITZER CONCERT HALL C O U N S E L IN G FOR W O M EN A N D FR IEN D S OF W O M EN 777-6653 1903 S E ANKENY PORTLAND. OR 97214 Friday,June 28, at 8 p.m. Tickets and SI 2 available at C.C Slaughter’s Dugan’s. Forward Ceat I he lYimary Domain. R oxy Means,The Embers Starke s \Pjggs-n-fYnguins, and at the Civic Auditonum box office Signing Provided 15