The Brigham Young University Department of Theatre and Media Arts will present “Beauty and the Beast” in both English and American Sign Language Friday and Saturday, March 3-4, at 7:30 p.m. in the Pardoe Theatre.
Tickets are $7 or $5 with BYU student ID. A matinee performance will take place Saturday, March 4, at 2 p.m. Seats for the matinee performance are $5.
Produced by Signstage On Tour and dramatized by William Morgan, the story of sacrifice and love will be presented simultaneously in American Sign Language and spoken in English by a combined cast of deaf and hearing actors.
“Beauty and the Beast” tells the story of a young girl forced to leave her home and live in the castle of a monster to save her father. To her surprise, the Beast proves kind, but she refuses to marry him each day when he asks. Taken by the Beast into a haunting world of misty gardens and candlelit chambers, Beauty discovers that physical attractiveness is far less important than the sterling qualities of kindness and love.
In this production, Signstage adds a cultural twist as hearing audiences are introduced to deaf culture and deaf audiences are treated to a rare production in their native language.
The production team includes management consultant Lisa Winstel, artistic director William Morgan and administrative assistant Erin LaFountain, as well as six actors in the artistic company.
Signstage On Tour was founded in 1975 by one deaf and one hearing actor. Signstage is one of only a few professional theaters in the United States that feature deaf and hearing actors on stage together in every production.
For more information, contact Rodger Sorensen at (801) 422-8132.
Writer: Angela Fischer
