Chicago DART

To all of our friends and supporters,

We regret to announce the postponement of POLICE DEAF NEAR FAR that was scheduled to open on July 24th. We want to thank all of our supporters through this lengthy process but bilingual theatre is challenging and we quickly came to realize that we need to take a step back and work on developing the core system more in order to create a shared creative language. We want to do that process justice as this story and this culture deserves to be presented to the city of Chicago in its best form – with a new artistic language that can pave the way for more Deaf theatre throughout the city.

Over the next few weeks we will be contacting those of you who already purchased tickets about your seats. We also have some events coming up this fall that we are excited to announce! If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us at [email protected]. Thank you.

We've been named one of Time Out Chicago's must see shows in July!

Get your tickets at www.Chicagodart.org

16 Chicago theater shows to see in July

We at Chicago D(ART) cannot express enough how happy we are to be mentored by Steep Theatre Company. We wanted to share their most recent job posting for their Associate House Manager position- preferably with ASL knowledge!
Check out the description below and see if they're looking for you!
DESCRIPTION
Steep Theatre is currently seeking a proactive and customer-service-oriented Associate House Manager to join Steep’s administrative team on a part-time seasonal basis. The ideal candidate should be organized, friendly, and hard working with exceptional communication skills, including proficiency in American Sign Language; have a love of live theatre; and create a warm, welcoming environment. Steep Theatre prides itself on being a wonderful place to make and see theatre, and the Associate House Manager will play a vital role in creating a welcoming lobby environment while managing all of the logistics of the front-of-house.

ChicagoPlays ChicagoPlays.com is your Chicago theatre information source. The League of Chicago Theatres is an alliance of 200 Chicago theaters that supports promotes and advocates for Chicago theater locally, nationally and internationally.

“Having accessible shows leads to a greater interest in participating in the creation of art.” - Executive Director, Richard Costes

Thanks Kris Vire for penning this awesome insight into what drives Chicago D(ART) and it's mission to be a home of and for Deaf artists.

Chicago D(ART) launches to serve deaf artists and audiences The new theater company formed by deaf and hard-of-hearing artists stages its debut production this summer.

Want the insider scoop when it comes to our rehearsal process with "Police Deaf Near Far?" Check out Ethan Hart-Cook (Stinger) and his vlog postings here! He'll be updating weekly and talking about things like our translation process, rehearsal moments and more.

Not fluent in ASL? No worries- we've got the transcript in the comments section of the Youtube clip so you can follow along.

Police Deaf Near Far Stinger's Vlog #1 | #DeafTalent Weekly vlog about my experience in Chicago DART's upcoming production, "Police Deaf Near Far" by David Rush.

Improvements galore! You can now sign up for our email list under our tabs and donate directly from our page. So many ways to support- so little time! Ain't Technology grand? :)

Introducing to the world- our incredible cast and crew for PDNF!

Introducing Chicago D(ART)'s Cast and Crew for POLICE DEAF NEAR FAR by David Rush Rehearsals have begun for Chicago D(ART)'s inaugural production of 'Police Deaf Near Far' by David Rush.

PAH! - SO MUCH GOOD NEWS! Rehearsals start TONIGHT for our first production "Police Deaf Near Far" At Columbia College Chicago ASL Department (THANKS GANG!) Our New website is officially launched and tech accessible in some incredible ways (Thanks Beth Cummings!) AND tickets have gone on sale for our production! (THANKS Steep Theatre Company!) There is just so much good going on this week- stay tuned for updates and more exclamation points to come!

We at Chicago D(ART) want to wish our friends over at Neverbird Project a wonderful closing weekend with their poignant, inclusive and beautiful production of "Pinocchio." 🙌👋🙌👋

Happy National from Chicago D(ART)!
Transcript:
Two Men sit on a couch. Both wearing hats and dark T-Shirts. They are signing. The video is in black and white with captioning at the bottom.
Text on Screen: Happy ASL Day! April 15th is the 200th anniversary of the opening of the first school for the Deaf.
Chris: Hello! I'm Chris
Ethan: Hello! I'm Ethan. Why is today special?
Chris: Today is National ASL Day, we here at Chicago D(ART) want to give our thanks to those who support Deaf actors and artists that use ASL creatively.
Ethan: And keeping alive for more, er encourage you to keep making more work and keep creating new ideas. We got your back.
Both: Love you all!
Chris: POAW!
Text on Screen: Happy ASL Day from Chicago D(ART) Like, share and follow!

Happy ASL Day! Happy ASL Day from all of us at Chicago D(ART)!

Our Accessibility team, Havalah Grace and Phillip Max Lewis, has been hard at work to bring their captioning skills to the Chicago Theater community and Chicago D(ART) is excited to offer captioning for this Thursday's performance of William Inge's "Picnic" at American Theater Company. Click the link for details below and come out and support a great theater and their dedication to making art accessible to d/Deaf and HoH audiences!

Picnic at American Theater Company Open Captioned. Closeted and dogged by an acute sense of failure for most of his life until he ended it, William Inge wrote some of the great lyrical plays of the American mid-century, and Picnic was

ASL SLAM​ has been a huge part of the Chicago community since they launched their branch here last year. Chicago D(ART) is excited to support ASL SLAM and to have many many talented poets in our ranks! Check out this awesome CNN story below that highlights some of the reasons ASL poetry and the SLAM are so important to Deaf Culture!

Spoken Without Words: Poetry with ASL SLAM It's spoken word without spoken words—ASL SLAM is an open space for poets to perform their work in American Sign Language (ASL). As ASL SLAM's executive director Douglas Ridloff explains, ASL poetry doesn't rely on rhyming patterns or meter within auditory or written wordplay; rather, the art is "mo...

Have you been following us on twitter? Well - you should! We're on hour 13 of the 24 hour website challenge hosted by The Nerdery and the team we've been partnered with - HEAPS O' NERDS - has been amazing!

We can't wait to show you what they've cooked up! Follow us at twitter.com/chicagodart for regular updates until we pass out from exhaustion!.which, to be honest, may not be long now. Time to stock up on coffee!

Chicago D(ART) (@chicagodart) | Twitter

Good morning!

Today we start the process of buulding a brand new accessible website as part of the Overnight Website Challenge hosted by The Nerdery! In 24 hours we are going to have a fully accessible website! Does that seem crazy? It does to us - but thankfully we are paired with some amazing designers and technicians.

Follow us on Twitter at (www.twitter.com/chicagodart) to see what we are up to as we are going to be live tweeting throughout the entire process!

Thank you to everyone who supported us in the Nerdery Foundation contest! Thanks to your support we will be getting a brand new accessible website soon as part of their Overnight Website Challenge!

We're excited to see what the team we are paired with ends up creating and we will be live-tweeting throughout the 24 hour challenge next weekend from the 18th-19th! Follow us on Twitter at to stay updated!

We couldn't have done this without your amazing support of !

Chicago D(ART) (@chicagodart) | Twitter The latest Tweets from Chicago D(ART) (): "Help us get a website overhaul that is 100% accessible by writing a testimonial for us at: https://t.co/ofqd1zA5cN "

Check out our amazing friends at Neverbird Project in their production of PINOCCHIO and support young ! Chicago is filled with wonderful companies like this and we're happy to see them thrive!

Deaf + hearing actors team up in Neverbird’s “Pinocchio” at Chicago Children’s Theatre, The Station, 4/20-5/7 Young hearing and Deaf actors will perform on stage together in a signed and voice presentation Pinocchio, only the second production in the new Chicago Children’s Theatre, The Station.

A note from our Artistic Director, Christopher Michael Schroeder

On behalf of Chicago D(ART), It is with sadness that we say goodbye to ICODA (International Center on Deafness and the Arts) and its sister company IPCE (Institute for Person Centered Enrichment, formerly known as MHD) as it closes its doors for the last time at the end of March.

They have served our Deaf community for more than 40 years and we are grateful for everything they’ve done. Many talents have emerged from ICODA, including Marlee Matlin, Liz Tannebaum, Paula Barksdale, Ron Jiu, Jim Lomanto, Tom Adamo, Melanie Kaplan, Ren Putz, me, and many others. I’ve learned so much from ICODA. They were a family to me. Especially the Strejc sisters (y’all rock)!

Because of my experience with ICODA, I am prepared to take on new experiences and challenges with my own Deaf art theater company. I will use all that I’ve learned from you and put it into this new endeavor.

Thank you again for all that you have done for the past 40+ years. It’s sad to see you go, but we hope to make you proud.

WANT TO SUPPORT DEAF ART FOR FREE?

Write us a TESTIMONIAL to help us land a tech promo that would allow us to make our Website dreams of complete accessibility come true!

Chicago D(ART) Connecting web pros with needy nonprofits for a race around the clock website redesign contest.

Check out our very own Cicely Boga hosting the CCAP ASL Slam! Break fingers Cicely!

Reserve your tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/asl-slam-chicago-10-tickets-tickets-31616625177

[CCAP] [ASL SLAM February] ASL SLAM Chicago Host Cicely Boga Come join us on February 17th for ASL SLAM Chicago! The event is from 7 PM - 9 PM at the Music Center 1014 S. Michigan and is $10 cash at the door. We DO NOT...

Check out our Board President, Ethan Hart-Cook and our Artistic Director, Christopher Michael Schroeder give details about our upcoming auditions for Police Deaf Near far! More info at www.chicagodart.com

Transcript:
Hi! I’m Ethan, the Board President of Chicago D(ART)

I’m Chris, the Artistic Director of Chicago D(ART).

We wanted to take a few moments of your time to talk to you about our upcoming auditions for POLICE DEAF NEAR FAR by David Rush.

The play presents various conflicts and several perspectives that we will see throughout the story; from the perspective of hearing cops to the perspective of a deaf right activist and how they clash.

All roles are currently available – we are looking for both men and women between the ages of 20-50.

Rehearsals will begin at the end of May and will be held in Rogers Park neighborhood.

Performances will be at Steep Theatre Company - right off the Berwyn Red Line Stop.

The show will open on July 24th and run for three weeks – Mondays-Wednesdays, with possible Sunday evening performances added.

If you would like to be considered for this production, please email us at [email protected] – if you have a headshot and resume, please send it to us.

If you do not – that is okay! Email us anyways! We welcome everyone – people who are brand new to theatre and people who have performed before.

When you email us please also let us know what day you would prefer to audition on.

You can audition either on Friday, February 24th from 6pm to 10pm.

Or Saturday, February 25th from 12pm to 8pm.

Once you’ve sent us an email we will respond back and send you a monologue and a scene to look over.

You will not have to memorize this monologue! Just be familiar with it.

If you have any questions – send us a message on Facebook or email us!

Chicago DART is one of the major supporter of , we wish to see more opportunities created for Deaf Actors/Actresses all around, so please contact us!

We hope to hear from you soon!

PDNF Auditions TRANSCRIPT: Hi! I’m Ethan, the Board President of Chicago D(ART) I’m Chris, the Artistic Director of Chicago D(ART). We wanted to take a few moments of your ...

AUDITION NOTICE FOR POLICE DEAF NEAR FAR:
by David Rush
Directed by Richard Costes

Chicago D(ART), or Deaf ART, is holding non-equity auditions for its inaugural show – David Rush’s Police Deaf Near Far. Auditionees will be seen by invitation only on Friday, February 24th from 6:00PM to 10:00PM, and Saturday, February 25th from 12:00PM-4:00PM in Rogers Park. Callbacks will be on Monday, February 27th.

Invitees will receive a confirmation with sides to prepare, and directions to the audition location.

Police Deaf Near Far is loosely based on actual events that occurred in Chicago and follows two parallel stories: that of a young Deaf rights activist and that of a police officer. Over the course of the play we follow their lives as separate crises bring them to their inevitable encounter.

All roles are currently available – in terms of fluency in sign language - we are seeking two Deaf male-identified actors for the roles of Stinger and Chad, and one female-identified hearing actor, fluent in ASL, for the role of Roberta. The remaining roles will be shadow-cast and will have two actors – both a hearing actor and a Deaf actor portraying them. Many of these roles will be double-cast with actors taking on several different characters.

Roles are as follows:

Stinger: Deaf male-identified (must be fluent in ASL)
Chad: Deaf male-identified (must be fluent in ASL)
Roberta: Hearing female-identified (must be fluent in ASL)
Banterra: Male-identified (30s-40s)
Springhorn: Female-identified (30s-50s)
Anna: Female-identified (20s-30s)
Larry: Male-identified (20s-30s)
Michael: Male-identified (20s-40s)
Betty: Female-identified (20s-40s)
Various other roles of any identification and age: police officers, drivers, etc.

-Rehearsals will begin at the end of May and will be held in the Rogers Park neighborhood, at the Cuckoo’s Theatre Project located at 7077 N. Ashland Blvd.
-Performances will be at Steep Theatre Company, located at 1115 W. Berwyn
-The show will open July 24th and run for three weeks – Mondays-Wednesdays, with possible Sunday evening performances added

To be considered for this production, please email your headshot and resume to [email protected] with your audition availability and indicate your skill level in American Sign Language, if any. If selected, we will contact you with audition materials and a scheduled time. Please note that, with the exception of characters specifically designated fluent in ASL, prior knowledge of ASL will not have any bearing on whether you will be cast.

We strongly encourage actors of all racial, ethnic, and gender identifications to audition for this show.

A BIG thank you to Lavina Jadhwani and the The Chicago Inclusion Project for including our upcoming production of David Rush's POLICE DEAF NEAR FAR on this list of shows to see this year!

LOOKING FORWARD: Top Ten Shows We're Excited to See in 2017 | chicagoinclusion Lavina Jadhwani is a Chicago-based director and adaptor. She wrote this list roughly in order in which they open (and all are affordably priced, to boot): - Ty...

We are INCREDIBLY grateful for our friends at Steep Theatre Company for providing us a place to perform and mentoring us as we begin our journey with David Rush's POLICE DEAF NEAR FAR!

Deaf Theater and Arts Company Launches in Chicago | PerformInk This summer, Chicago will be getting its first look at a new arts organization focused on bridging the Deaf and hearing communities.

Wow!!!! Thanks everyone! We are at 500 likes in our first week! We are definitely feeling the love from the Chicago Theater scene and beyond and can't wait to share more with some fun announcements soon!

Hello from all of us here at Chicago D(ART)!

Chicago D(ART), or Deaf Art, is the creative home for artists looking to explore a way to bridge the communication barrier between the d/Deaf and hearing worlds.

We are incredibly grateful to the city of Chicago and the entire Chicago theatre community for their support over the last few months as we've worked to get things up and running. Thank you - and stay tuned as we have some very exciting announcements to make in the coming weeks!