When performing on stage, local actor Robert DeMayo makes quick, fluttery hand gestures. He furrows his brow and grits his teeth, exaggerating his facial expressions. But he never utters a word.
DeMayo is totally deaf. With more than 20 years of stage experience under his belt, he has worked with organizations such as the National Theatre of the Deaf and New York Deaf Theatre. His act, a one-man comedy show called Me Hear NONE, is a series of silent skits.
"Deaf people are still in Pandora's box," DeMayo said, using American Sign Language translated during a recent interview. "We want to get out. There's still a long way to go for hearing people to catch up with our culture."
Exposing audiences to the work of disabled artists like DeMayo has been Mimi Smith's goal since she started an arts-access initiative in 2003. As the executive artistic director of VSA arts of Pennsylvania, Smith collaborated with both cultural and disability organizations in the city to create Independence Starts Here: A Festival of Disability Arts and Culture - a monthlong celebration.
The festival kicked off yesterday with an opening celebration at the Kimmel Center. Other events include visual-art exhibitions; theatrical, musical and dance performances; film screenings with captioning and audio description, and poetry readings. Today, one of the nation's first open-captioned movie theaters is set to open at the Independence Seaport Museum, offering cutting-edge technology that permits captioning right on the movie screen. Events continue through Nov. 20.
DeMayo will perform his show at the Deaf Cabaret and Comedy Central, a Deaf Arts and Culture event Nov. 16 at Dowling's Palace on North Broad Street. Other highlights include performances by Shannon DeVido, JazzArtSigns Multimedia, an improvised and interactive jazz performance piece, the Rebecca Davis Dance Company with a new ballet about Helen Keller, blind actress Pamela Sabaugh in Molly Sweeney and deaf actor Tyrone Giordano in The Zoo Story.
