On the night of Wednesday, April 1, 2015, hundreds of people walked through the doors of Wilkins Theatre around 6 p.m. with excitement and wondrous minds. The night of April 1, no one thought of April Fools, but of what the organization Deaf Jammers would bring to the stage with their fourth annual Deaf Jams: Deaf Jams IV: Through the Decades.
The event started off with two of the performances being in groups and performing a song in sign language. The first two songs were “God Bless the USA,” (a medley of “God Bless America”) and “America the Beautiful. “ Involved in the two performances were co-presidents of the organization Dana Barton and Jessica Pascalli, who are both seniors majoring in speech language and hearing sciences, and the advisor of Deaf Jammers Dr. Carol Goodman.
One of the performances was a reenactment of one of the most loveable movies of all time, The Wizard of OZ. The reenactment of the movie was created and produced by Barton, Pascalli, and Goodman, and signed by several of the American Sign Language (ASL) students which included Pascalli and Barton. Goodman did the voices of each character in the reenactment which included Dorothy, Tin Man, Cowardly Lion, Glinda, and Scarecrow. This reenactment of the famous movie had some major changes to the script so those of the deaf community could get a ground understanding of the story. Glinda told stories to Dorothy of the deaf community saying how the “deaf community has gatherings, parties, and different events.”
Throughout the show, the audience was in awe, laughing at parts that were funny and singing along to the songs that they knew. Some of the popular songs included “You Make Me Feel So Young,” by Frank Sintra, “Jailhouse Rock,” by Elvis Presley, “Try” by Colbie Calliet and “Single Ladies,” by Beyoncé. Several in the audience enjoyed the show, especially junior and speech pathology major Gabriella Nuara, who comments, “they really did a great job. I very much enjoyed the theme this year.”
As said by Goodman, the event included acts “from the early days of silent films through the racial tensions of the ‘60s and the insightful artist of the millennium. The storyline guides the audience through not only the musical transitions [which highlights each era], but includes original poetry [written by students], dance performances by the Kean University Dance Ensemble [KUDE], musical accompaniment by the Jazz Troupe from the Kean University music department, and some natural[ly talented] singers and signers, the youngest of whom is eight.” The act performed by an eight year old girl was the song “Animal Crackers in My Soup.”
Just as promised from Dr, Goodman, the event had “different era’s like the hippie era and the racial era.”
One of the performances was a poem “Civilized and Sugar,” written and recited by African poet Fatti. Excerpts of Martin Luther King Jr. famous speech “I have a Dream” came next and were interpreted by Marquial Davis, junior psychology major. This section of the event talked about the Civil Rights Movement, with the poem going in depth about the movement as Fatti spoke of how some African American individuals would’ve liked to be a part of the white community so “you bleached your brains white.”
Not only did the event showcase different performances, but it also had image slides. One image slide many will not forget from that event was about how deaf people are mistreated. Some people may see those who are deaf as “different” and will disrespect them. Some of the slides also showed articles from decades ago with titles that mentioned “curing deafness”, almost as if deafness is a disease.
All in all, the event was very creative and successful. People left with smiles on their faces and gained some insight into ASL and the deaf community. For more information about Deaf Jams and or the ASL organization please visit Cougar Link.
