Plays of Our Own is the first anthology of its kind containing an
eclectic range of plays by Deaf and hard-of-hearing writers. These
writers have made major, positive contributions to world drama or Deaf
theatre arts.
Their topics range from those completely unrelated to deafness to those
with strong Deaf-related themes such as a dreamy, headstrong girl
surviving a male-dominated world in Depression-era Ireland; a famous
Spanish artist losing his hearing while creating his most controversial
art; a Deaf African-American woman dealing with AIDS in her family; and
a Deaf peddler ridiculed and rejected by his own kind for selling ABC
fingerspelling cards. The plays are varied in style - a Kabuki western,
an ensemble-created variety show, a visual-gestural play with no spoken
nor signed language, a cartoon tragicomedy, historical and domestic
dramas, and a situation comedy. This volume contains the well-known Deaf
theatre classics, My Third Eye and A Play of Our Own.
At long last, directors, producers, Deaf and hearing students,
professors, and researchers will be able to pick up a book of "Deaf
plays" for production consideration, Deaf culture or multicultural
analysis, or the simple pleasure of reading.