Deaf and hearing actors from Cleveland Signstage on Tour will bring the story of Roald Dahl’s adventurous “James and the Giant Peach” to life through sign and speech in an adaptation of the story on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 29-March 1, at Brigham Young University.
Evening performances will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the de Jong Concert Hall, and a matinee performance will begin at 2 p.m. on Saturday. Tickets for the evening shows are $10 for general admission or $6 for students and children, and all tickets for the matinee are $6. Group discounts are available.
For more information or to purchase tickets, call the BYU Fine Arts Ticket Office at (801) 422-4322 or visit performances.byu.edu.
In “James and the Giant Peach,” three-year-old James Trotter is sent to live with his mean Aunt Spiker and cruel Aunt Sponge after his family is killed in a bizarre accident. One day while working in the garden, a mysterious man gives James a gift that changes his life and involves a magical peach.
As he leaves behind the sadness of his life with his vicious aunts, James sets forth on a journey with larger-than-life-sized insects. In this tale of friendship, love, sadness and triumph, James and his new friends see oceans and cloudmakers, are towed through the sky by seagulls and create a stir in the "Big Apple" when their gigantic peach lands on the Empire State Building.
Signstage on Tour specializes in sign language theatre, where deaf and hearing actors perform together on stage. Whenever a character speaks, the character speaking uses American Sign Language and the voice comes from a different actor speaking through a microphone, sometimes on-stage and sometimes off-stage. The stage is filled with the movement of hands and bodies, yet every word is spoken to make sure all audience members, both deaf and hearing, don’t miss a thing.
For more information, visit signstage.org or call (801) 422-4322.
Writer: Marissa Ballantyne
