July 12, 2007 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

Theatrical Mt. Airy couple pens new play about deaf community
by LENA CALIGIURI

Mt. Airy theatrical veterans Adrian Blue and Catherine Rush are seen in front of the State Door at Stagecrafters in Chestnut Hill. (Photo by Erin Vertreace)

What would life be like in a world without labels? Lines between what is “normal” and what is “different” would be blurred, or even nonexistent. Once these lines are blurred, members of the community must all seem equal. Undoubtedly, there would be a pervasive sense of peace.

For over 200 years, Chilmark, a community in Martha’s Vineyard (the very upscale resort island in Massachusetts), managed to blur the lines between deaf and hearing, and Mt. Airy residents Adrian Blue and Catherine Rush have written a play, This Island Alone, about the significance of this period of history.

Blue and Rush, a husband and wife team, have been immersed in the theater world for over 30 years. “We think of ourselves as theater artists,” they insist, though Blue would say he is a director/writer, and Rush would tend towards writer/actor. The two met when Rush was costume designing for a show Blue was directing. From there, the couple has directed, taught and acted on stages around the world. Blue recently returned from directing in Mexico City, and both have taught workshops in New Zealand.

This Island Alone takes place in 1889, and bases itself on the real story of Chilmark, where an estimated 25 percent of the population was deaf, as a result of the two founding families on the island carrying the recessive deafness gene. “The island remained insulated,” Rush explains, “and the families continued to pass it down, building a signing community. No one knew who was hearing and who was deaf.” This unquestioning attitude of equality and acceptance was so extreme that when genealogists interviewed town members, they were often unaware that their own grandparents or close relatives were deaf. In This Island Alone, two “off-islanders” enter the town, and ask a question that disrupts the community forever, making the islanders realize that they are different..

A friend of Blue and Rush commissioned the couple to write the play about Chilmark’s history. This Island Alone, performed in both English and American Sign Language, was originally developed as a 25-minute play for and performed by children, some deaf and some hearing. The show received such a good response from the adults who attended, however, that Blue and Rush were asked to make it into a full-length production for adults. A year later, the script was ready for an adult cast of seven, three women and four men, three deaf and four hearing.

Last Saturday the play finished a run on theVineyard Playhouse’s stage in Martha’s Vineyard. Blue and Rush feel that the play has surpassed their expectations, as audience members often left uplifted, yet with tears in their eyes, and many made return visits to experience the play again. In the second act, Rush explains, there are brief scenes that are performed completely in English or completely in American Sign Language, and “the theatre gets so still, it’s as though everyone in the audience stops breathing. They’re grasping for meaning, and don’t want to be left out. For a moment, they get an idea of what it feels like to be deaf today.”

However, Blue states that for the most part, audience reaction has taken the show beyond an issue of deafness and hearing, and “they see it as a universal message.” Rush explains, “The more specific and honest you are, the more universal it becomes. Human behavior is constant.”

Blue and Rush are pleased that the play has touched audiences so deeply. As Rush says, “The purpose of theater is to move an audience. Bad theater moves them out of the theater! But, good theater moves them to think about their lives in a different way.” Certainly, by this definition, This Island Alone can be classified as great theatre.

Blue and Rush are currently looking for a home for the play in the Philadelphia area. Rush’s next project is Backyard Conspiracy, which is currently being performed by the Luna Theater Company in Philadelphia through July 15.

Are there more “signing” plays in their future? “My goal is to do whatever inspires me,” says Blue, “whether it’s ASL or not.”