Slog

News & Arts

Line Out

Music & the City
at Night

« Manufacturing Existential Insecurit… | Chris Matthews Rips Reince Priebus… »

Monday, August 27, 2012

Comedy / Arts / Theater Open Minds & Hands

Posted by Dan Savage on Mon, Aug 27, 2012 at 9:19 AM

I wanted to highlight this comment on my Friday post defending my play Miracle! (now closed) from an outraged critic who claimed—without bothering to see the show—that it mocked the deaf and deaf-blind:

I was at the Thursday night performance of Miracle! and I'm one of the deaf people Dan saw at the post-play discussion. (I'm also on the board of Deaf Spotlight) There was a discussion FB about a month ago, in our community, initiated by a deaf-blind person, who read Zoe's comments and was very upset with what this play seemed to be saying about Helen Keller, and by proxy, deaf-blind people. A healthy discussion followed, admittedly by people who'd never seen the performance. I had requested an interpreter for this and other plays for Intiman's summer festival, so I suggested, despite my own trepidations (based on what Zoe said) that we all keep an open mind and go see the interpreted performance. Well, quite a few did, as Dan said, including the deaf-blind person that initiated the discussion, who promised to keep an open mind. He'd never seen a drag show send-up of well-known movies and plays, a staple of the '80's and '90's. By the time the intermission rolled around, he was a convert, telling me that he was not insulted at all, and thought the play was hilarious. The play actually makes Helen's story humane and universal; another interpreter friend who saw the play earlier said it seems more a indictment of the system of educating the deaf than it is about Helen Keller. The interpreters were having a great time. I thought the play was absolutely a hoot to watch. (And yes, Deaf Spotlight would like to explore the possibility of opening the play to a wider audience in the community.)

Miracle! closed on Saturday night—but other theaters in other cities have expressed an interest in mounting the show. And I'll pass the script on to Deaf Spotlight just as soon as I have a chance to make a few tweaks.

FacebookShare

Comments (21) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

Cool comment.

And professionals or not, I wonder how interpreters managed to do their jobs without cracking up.

Posted by seatackled on August 27, 2012 at 9:28 AM

I managed to make it to the final performance on Saturday and went in with some hesitation. I had prepared myself to be a little outraged and was definitely taken aback at the first appearance of Hellen Stellar on stage.

I was a quick convert, however, and realized that while the performance was indeed outrageous, it was not at all offensive. It managed to take a story we've all heard a thousand times and finally tell it in a way that allowed a modern audience to actually listen to it.

Great job, Dan! I saw you after the show and wanted to tell you in person, but you were accosted by so many people I thought you would appreciate this small note much more. :)

Posted by FormerSeattelite on August 27, 2012 at 9:36 AM

I really want to see this show - I hope it makes it to the east coast.

Posted by Schweighsr on August 27, 2012 at 9:43 AM

Yay Dan!!!!

Posted by Luisa on August 27, 2012 at 9:47 AM

No, no. You've been rumbled as a bigot already by someone who'd never seen the show. There's no defending yourself with your own rationale and informed comments from people who have seen the show now. You anti-deaf fascist.

Posted by Fistique on August 27, 2012 at 9:51 AM

I wonder if this Zoe person is aware how much her screed has done to increase the likelihood the show will have legs and be seen all over the place now. Including wherever it is she lives, so she can buy a ticket her own damn self.

Posted by gloomy gus on August 27, 2012 at 9:58 AM

Tweak #1: Actually commit to setting the play in the 1990's since it clearly represents that era of drag and gay culture...

Tweak #2: Give Michael Place's character something to DO!

Posted by michael strangeways

on August 27, 2012 at 10:02 AM

Tweak #3: Make it more filthy and crude, please.

Posted by ...and CowBells. More CowBells! on August 27, 2012 at 10:09 AM

@7: But then we have to lose "Pussy, Crack."

Posted by Dan Savage on August 27, 2012 at 10:10 AM

@9 Don't listen to Michael Strangeways. Play worked beautifully and was incredible from start to finish.

Posted by doubtroub on August 27, 2012 at 10:19 AM

It was actually a tearjerker. Very well done and I was extremely happy to see the show. The only truly tasteless joke with no value was the Lacey Peterson joke which was uncalled for.

Posted by PNWsalmon on August 27, 2012 at 10:55 AM

Oh to have been there to watch the rehersals.

Posted by SeattleKim on August 27, 2012 at 10:59 AM

I literally spent four years working next to the Vancouver School for the Blind.

Like most teenagers, they could be sullen and rude with the best of them.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on August 27, 2012 at 11:13 AM

"Its ok, my [deaf|black|gay] friend wasn't offended."

Posted by kerrizor on August 27, 2012 at 11:57 AM

@14: Exactly.

Except that the person whose comment I'm highlighting isn't a friend of mine—we don't know each other—and no one who actually saw the show seems to have taken offense.

But, yeah, otherwise it's exactly like you said

Posted by Dan Savage on August 27, 2012 at 1:33 PM

How does a deaf-blind person go see a play?

How is it different from just having the script read to them by an interpreter?

Posted by ForkyMcSpoon on August 27, 2012 at 2:42 PM

Why don't you just give them the script as it was when the play was performed?

Posted by suddenlyorcas on August 27, 2012 at 4:02 PM

Mm. I did see the play, and I came away from it feeling weird. For starters, I felt like the disclaimers that were posted all around the theater about the play being "OMG SO OFFENSIVE!!!!" were a bit of a. Cop out? I guess? I'm not really in the practice of getting offended, and I've read and been a fan of Dan's work for a long time now. And I knew the premise of the play, so on paper I was on board. But when, despite my game-ness, I found myself feeling like there was something mean-spirited in that initial representation of the way a deaf-blind person might do a drag number, the implied message from those disclaimers was, "well, you must be some kinda SQUARE." But my negative response to the play wasn't about the "offensiveness." I just didn't think that moment--Helen Stellar's "big reveal"--worked. If it was ABOUT making the audience uncomfortable, there weren't enough cues in the text to encourage that kind of meta-thinking as an audience member. As I watched it, it just seemed like the fact of disability was being played up for laughs. Or rather, that it was like one really long Helen Keller joke. Just as a work shouldn't be dismissed because of some arbitrary "offensiveness" marker, it shouldn't automatically get a pass or get bonus points because it was conceived out of an outrageous premise. It felt like a whole play built around a one note gag. And that gag was a laughing-at-not-with kind of gag.

Posted by werd on August 27, 2012 at 4:22 PM

Dan,
Never mind the issue about the play being offensive. Your gig is to wink at your base and heap invective on others -- then express shock that the target can't get the joke.

Forget all that.

I saw the play. It sucked. The whole notion of draping drag on a familiar tale is ...shocking! Nope. It was dull.

Dan, don't let your son see the play. He'll want Dad to stay away from the stage. Shocking!

Posted by Sorry_Dan's_Play_is_Dullsville on August 27, 2012 at 6:21 PM