Through Children of a Lesser God, the San Jac’s Central Theatre Department hopes to inspire empathy and understanding while sparking conversations about the challenges faced by the deaf community. Children of a Lesser God opens on Thursday, February 13 – 15 at 7:30 p.m., with a Sunday, February 16 matinee at 2:30 p.m. at central campus Powell Arena Theatre.
Directed by Donna Taylor, a theatre educator, the play is expected to deliver a powerful message on love, communication, and the struggle for identity in the deaf community.
“What students and the audience can take away from this production is a better understanding of our inability to listen and hear each other’s needs and desires,” Taylor explains. “This leads to miscommunication. Our ability to speak is broken, but it can be fixed, “says Taylor.
The play, originally written by Mark Medoff and first performed in the 1980s, tells the story of a speech teacher who falls in love with a deaf woman. As their relationship grows, the couple faces conflicts stemming from their differing beliefs on communication.
“The man wants his wife to use her ability to speak, but she does not,” Taylor says, “it’s a story about identity, love, and the tension between self-expression and conformity.”
Taylor, who has served as a director at San Jac Central for over four years, brings a wealth of experience to the theatre department. After retiring from a 36-year career teaching high school, she discovered a part-time job at Central’s theatre department as a director, to which she has found herself to flourish in this position. Bringing Children of a Lesser God to the stage required a dedicated and thoughtful approach from the cast and crew. Taylor described the preparation process as both rigorous and rewarding.
“The cast spends time blocking, working scenes, and making sure they get all the emotions correct,” says Taylor, “we even have an interpreter who teaches the cast American Sign Language (ASL) for at least two hours during rehearsals.”
The cast was initially concerned about representing the deaf community respectfully. However, they were united by a common goal of bringing attention and awareness to the experiences of those whose voices are not often heard.
“They want to do this story justice,” says Taylor, “there’s a lot of history behind it, and it’s an important story to tell.”
Taylor emphasized the importance of these conversations, encouraging audiences to reflect on how they communicate and listen to others.
Pre-sale tickets are $8 and $10 at the door. For more information, call 281-476-1828.
