"Challenging" is one word director Larry Nehring uses to describe his experience working on "Children of a Lesser God," which opened at Weathervane Feb. 20.

"This is a challenging play for a professional theater to do, due to the language," Nehring said. "It is bilingual and bicultural. For a community theater to try it, where no one is getting paid, it's a large task to do in eight short weeks. It takes a huge amount of dedication. We were very fortunate with our cast."

The play, written by Mark Medoff, is the story of James (played by Ryan McMullen of Cuyahoga Falls), a newly-hired speech therapist at a residential school for the deaf, where many deaf children grow up together in a culturally deaf environment. There he meets Sarah (played by Kristen Bowen), a graduate of the school who still lives on campus and works as the school maid. She is proud of her unique culture and language -- American Sign Language -- and takes great exception to hearing people who would seek to change her by forcing her to use her voice or read lips. They gradually grow close and fall in love, but are constantly challenged by their own differing perspectives and expectations of each other. Outside forces and issues of discrimination, too, threaten to divide them.

Medoff adapted the play, along with two other screenwriters, Hesper Anderson and James Carrington, for the 1986 film of the play, which starred William Hurt and Marlee Matlin (who, at 21, won the Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role, the youngest actress to win this award).

Nehring, who has been an ASL interpreter for 15 years and has worked with the Cleveland Signstage Theater, said one issue was translating the script to sign language.

"We not only have to learn the sign, but we needed to figure out the emotions behind the sign," Nehring said after the Feb. 23 performance. "Even today, we were looking at the signs and translations, because the signs they choose are a reflection of their character."

A change made to this production is the use of shadow interpreters for parts of the play, Nehring said. The ensemble of shadow interpreters appear with characters who either don't sign or only sign briefly. Only about half the play has sign language incorporated in the text, he added.

"I think, especially with a play like this, only to have one or two performances [that are ASL translated] goes against what the play is about," he said. "We initially tried to use interpreters, but that was hard to do, so we used actors. All the performances are now accessible [for deaf audience members]."

McMullen said he also has worked with the Cleveland Signstage theater, with children's shows.

"This is more for adults," McMullen said. "It's quite a challenge, but it's been enjoyable."

McMullen said one consideration while rehearsing the play was coordinating queues to the productions deaf actors, including Bowen and Jesse Catalano, who plays Orin, "when you are not looking or speaking directly to them." However, McMullen said the quality of the talent made everything come together.

"It was wonderful," he said of doing the show. "I learned a lot. People who are deaf or blind, they are not handicapped. They are differently abled, they really are."

Bowen and Catalano, who both graduated from the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, said they've related to several of the experiences and discrimination that are portrayed in the show.

"Some of the scenes we do are based on our own lives and experiences going to school," said Catalano through an ASL interpreter. "It was hard work, we had a lot of flashbacks to our experiences. It was hard but we worked through this. We have to accept we are deaf, no matter what."

Bowen said that as a child, she had been mainstreamed into a public school.

"I will never forget the experience of going to a mainstream school," she said through an ASL interpreter. "It was hard. We were expected to lip read and speak, and we were not allowed to sign. When Jesse and I went to college [at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf], we saw a lot of deaf people signing, we saw deaf theater, we saw people talking in sign. It was a wonderful experience."

Daytime performances for school groups

"Children of a Lesser God" is a Project STAGE production, the Playhouse's education-based program that introduces plays of great literary value to students in northeast Ohio. Reduced ticket prices for students and teachers, study guides and post-performance discussions are offered at a 10 a.m. performance March 5. Support for Project STAGE (Students Through Acting Gain Education) performances comes from Akron Community Foundation, the Sisler-McFawn Foundation and Omnova Solutions Foundation. Tickets for these performances are $5.

Ticket and show information

"Children of a Lesser God" runs through March 9. Ticket prices range from $14 to $20.

Shows start at 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays; at 2:30 p.m. on the two Sunday matinees; at 10 a.m. on Feb. 27 and March 5; and 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 20.

For tickets, call 330-836-2626 or visit www.weathervaneplayhouse.com online.

Deaf and TDD/TTY patrons may use the Ohio Relay System to place a ticket order by calling 1-800-750-0750.

Next on stage

Weathervane will stage "The Importance of Being Earnest" March 27 through April 6 as part of its Young Actor series.

Weathervane also will next stage "Enchanted April," which opens April 16 and runs through May 4.

E-mail: ahelms@recordpub.com

Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3153