Sign Me Alice & Laurent Clerc: A Profile/Two Deaf Plays

By Gilbert C. Eastman

Book Overview

Sign Me Alice is an outrageous comedy and the most popular play ever shown at Gallaudet University. Based on Pygmalion and My Fair Lady, it teaches lessons about Deaf people and their conflicts with the hearing world over styles of communication.Laurent Clerc: A Profile is an historical play about the Deaf Frenchman who sacrificed his personal life to become America's first teacher of deaf children and who is the father of American Sign Language (ASL). Along with Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, he made American deaf education possible in early 1800s.Combining Sign Me Alice & Laurent Clerc: Two Deaf Plays and Classroom Guide to Suggested Activities and Projects, teachers can bring a wonderful learning experience to deaf and hearing students in secondary schools, literature classes, and Deaf Studies classes. Unveiling many social issues within the Deaf community, the plays bring more awareness to the students about the importance of the rich visual language that is American Sign Language (ASL) and its history.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 091503560X
• ISBN13: 9780915035601
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Dawn Sign Pr
• Length: 161 Pages
• Weight: 0.62 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.5" x 6.3"
• Age Range: 15 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 10 and higher

Customer Reviews

A Wonderfully "Deaf" play

Sign Me Alice This play is delightfully funny as it is profound. It was written by Gilbert Eastman who was head of the Drama Dept. of Galleudet University when he notices (visually) all the different sign systems that were abound at the University, that he states that the University had truly become a tower of Babel. The play Sign Me Alice is a truly "D"eaf Play. The introduction looks like a score card and one has to master the emphasis on English words that try to convey the meaning in sign language. A masterful feat in its own right to try to interpret sign language to English. Yet when not signed, many subtle meanings can be missed. Your level of enjoyment will depend upon your use of sign language (ASL), and knowledge of Deaf Culture. The deeper your Deaf experience the more enjoyment you will receive. This play is for everyone, but I also think that although the enjoyment level of this play is very high, you still have to be Deaf to understand. No hold barred, it is the best of Deaf Literature. I loved it.