Interpreting This Year’s Musical

By: Monica Aviles

This year’s play at Redwood is The Wizard of Oz. The cast has been practicing since October, and Mrs. Galvan has been directing/prepping them. However, they are not the only ones who have been practicing. American Sign Language (ASL) club members from Redwood have been translating the musical with the help of Heather Lemon, and will be interpreting it into ASL.

American Sign Language is a language most commonly used by the deaf and hard of hearing. It is a visual language that involves your hands, facial expressions, and body movements rather than your voice. 

There are at least 2.2 million people considered deaf in the state of California. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires any place to provide interpreters even if only one person requests one, but many places have difficulty with this. 

Most deaf and hard of hearing people do not attend plays, musicals, concerts, etc. due to not having an interpreter present. This year, a total of seven Redwood students will be interpreting The Wizard of Oz, allowing the deaf and hard of hearing people in the Valley to have the opportunity to enjoy the musical, and access to reserved seating.

Although, this is not the first time Redwood has interpreted for musicals. Heather Lemon is an interpreter for the deaf. She has interpreted over 30 musicals so far, and four of them were at Redwood. “This year is the 5th year directing ASL club members in learning and being exposed to the field of interpreting,” Lemon explained. She started meeting with the students at the beginning of November, and has “Enjoyed watching them sign during the rehearsals with the cast members as well.” She wants her students to learn the importance of deaf awareness and a different culture/language.

“The interpreter does not act on stage, you are responsible to interpret to the deaf/HoH client what is audibly and emotionally happening on stage.” – Lemon

Isabella Anaya, ‘20, is a former ASL club member, and has taken ASL 1 and 2 at Redwood. She is playing the role of the lion, and extra characters such as the tree or coroner. Anaya (and the other interpreters) did not have to audition for the musical, “I am currently in the ASL club and they gave us the opportunity to sign up as interpreters for the musical which caught my attention.” Some difficulties that Anaya is struggling with are, “The facial expressions because it is a critical part of ASL,”and translating “Some of the sentences in English to fit the grammatical order of ASL.” From this experience, she hopes to become a better interpreter, and expand her knowledge about the culture/language.

“The Deaf community is a very unique community. They interact the same way we do, just in ASL…I encourage everyone to learn it (ASL) because it will open opportunities for you to meet new and inspiring people.” – Anaya

Mrs. Dueree has been teaching American Sign Language here at Redwood for almost two years. ASL finally became a foreign language class at Redwood just two years ago. At first she took ASL as just “A foreign language requirement, it just kept going from there, I never stopped.” Mrs. Dueree believes the hardest struggle the students may face is, “Changing the language completely from English to ASL.” She explains how that’s one of her weaknesses (interpreting) too.

“I love the fact that students are preforming this. It exposes them to the language and interpreting, it also increases their skills.” – Mrs. Duerre

The musical, will be held on February 6th and 7th at 7 P.M and February 8th at 2 and 7 P.M in the L.J. Williams theater. For more information, contact (559)-679-0240 or (559)-429-6596.

Tags: #thewizardofoz, arts and entertainment, asl, interpreting, Redwood, redwood gigantea, redwood journalism, redwoodmusical