Deaf West Theatre: ASL on Broadway

When people think of musicals, most will come to imagine Broadway first. However, if you are interested in learning ASL, there is a special theater company you should know: Deaf West Theatre. 

Deaf West Theatre was founded in 1991 in Los Angeles, California, by Ed Waterstreet, a Deaf actor and director. Intended to make theater accessible to both Deaf and hearing individuals, Deaf West Theatre was one of the first theater companies to produce performances that utilize both American Sign Language (ASL) and spoken English. 

Their performances often feature actors who speak alongside those who sign ASL, or individual actors who perform using both voice and ASL simultaneously. Deaf West Theatre is especially known for having fully integrated productions, casting Deaf, hard-of-hearing, and hearing actors together. 

Through various hand gestures, facial expressions, and body movements that harmonize with the music, Deaf West Theatre demonstrates that ASL is an artistic language capable of expressing complex emotion, poetry, and more. 

Indeed, although it started as a small regional theatre, Deaf West Theatre is now an internationally recognized company, even collaborating with other major theatres such as Broadway. To this day, Deaf West Theatre continues to help bring Deaf culture and ASL into mainstream performing arts.