Pantages Theatre<\/a> (which hires interpreters as vendors, not as full-time employees). The production runs from Aug. 12- Sept. 6.<\/p>\nAn Inside Look at Rehearsals<\/p>\n
\u201cTypically what we do is we get the script and we\u2019ll get to read the script several times,\u201d says Leyva. In the reading process, he works to find out the timeline of the story and the personality of the characters.<\/p>\n
Leyva also rehearses with the ASL interpreter team, which decides on the signature language version of the play and language use. \u201cEven [with] something like Beauty and the Beast,\u201d says Leyva, \u201cI may not use the sign monster. I may use the sign animal. That\u2019s something that me and my team will have to talk about.\u201d<\/p>\n
After learning the script, for Leyva, the next step is creating a \u201ccharacter division,\u201d which divides who will embody each character throughout the performance. For Beauty and the Beast, Leyva helps map out the roles, from the central characters to the enchanted objects that bring the story to life.<\/p>\n
Scroll to continue reading<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat would be preferred, but not necessarily, is you have a male interpreter and a female interpreter,\u201d says Leyva, \u201cSo I\u2019m going to be Beast, and my female counterpart is going to be Belle. Those are the primary characters.\u201d From there, the team works through the rest of the cast. The enchanted cup, candelabra and clock may also need their own distinct interpretations, especially as they interact with Belle and the Beast throughout the story.<\/p>\n
Maintaining consistency is key. Leyva explains. \u201cWe try to keep the characters consistent throughout the entire story. That\u2019s the goal.\u201d However, because characters occasionally interact in unexpected ways, the team must remain flexible and adjust when necessary.<\/p>\n
Before the performance begins, Leyva and his team also introduce the character assignments to deaf audience members so they can follow the interpretation more easily. \u201cWe try to prepare the audience with some of that information so that they know this is the person who\u2019s talking, this is the person that I\u2019m taking off,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n
ASL: A Brief Overview<\/p>\n
Originated in 1817, ASL has been used in America for over 200 years. Along with growing public awareness of Deaf culture and disability inclusion, the language has gained broader recognition and acceptance.<\/p>\n
\u201cASL has become more popular and more visible. You\u2019re seeing people talk about it more. And people are more accepting and understanding of deafness, the Deaf community,\u201d says Mariam Janvelyan, UCLA Interpreter for the Deaf under the school\u2019s linguistics department. \u201cIn the past, it was very dark. People were just isolating deaf people because, \u2018Oh, it\u2019s a disability\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Janvelyan adds, \u201cI think people get confused because it\u2019s [called] American Sign Language and it\u2019s used here, but it is still a completely separate language with its own syntax, its own phonology, morphology.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
In fact, there is no direct corresponding relationship between English and ASL.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cASL is not a word-for-word translation of English. For example, there are no specific signs for words like are, am, be, were, or it,\u201d explains USC ASL instructor Karen A. Ruiz.<\/p>\n
And because American Sign Language is deeply rooted in Deaf culture, the jokes, idioms and cultural references are usually hard to translate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFor example, knock-knock jokes, hearing people love. Deaf people don\u2019t understand them because the majority of the time knock-knock jokes are sound-based,\u201d says Janvelyan. \u201cFrom my experience interpreting, knock-knock jokes almost 99.9% of the time never land.\u201d<\/p>\n
ASL and AI<\/p>\n
Like the rest of the entertainment industry, theater ASL interpreters are facing AI encroaching on their craft.<\/p>\n
In April, Sorenson Communications announced its AI Sign Language Translation and Proofs of Concept<\/a> and claimed to design \u201can AI Sign Language Translation platform that recognizes ASL and translates it into English text in real time to enable two-way conversations between a non-signing user and an ASL signer.\u201d<\/p>\nMany ASL interpreters, however, remain skeptical that artificial intelligence can replace human interpreters.<\/p>\n
Janvelyan believes interpretation is different from translation: \u201cInterpreters, it\u2019s now, live. It\u2019s a constant flow of information and so the second it comes in, I have like a split second to make a decision and throw it back out. That\u2019s what makes interpreting challenging but that is also why I love interpreting.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe beauty of interpreting, all that is the human connection, is the human touch,\u201d says Janvelyan. \u201cThere are certain things that robots will never understand no matter how great technology gets.\u201d<\/p>\n
That human connection is especially essential in live theater, where interpretation is not only about literal accuracy. It is a shared experience shaped by the emotions of the audience, the energy of the performers and the atmosphere of the entire performance space.<\/p>\n
ASL interpreters become part of the ever-changing rhythm of live storytelling. With every gesture, expression and movement, they help ensure the stage is not reserved for a single kind of audience, and it remains a place where everyone can experience the magic of theater.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Due to the nature of a live performance, what happens on the stage during a play or musical…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":429718,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[94937,1743,48,52,51,47,50,49,2240,95476,1058],"class_list":["post-429717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-asl","tag-hollywood","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-musicals","tag-pantages-theatre","tag-theater"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=429717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/429718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}