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Play A Sign Of Diversity

Scott Iskowitz / Tampa Tribune

Easter Robinson plays seven different parts using sign language as Elizabeth Osborne, right, voices her lines at Alonso High School.

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By COURTNEY CAIRNS PASTOR, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 12, 2007

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TAMPA - The voice comes from Amanda Buck, but Easter Robinson's hands and face are so expressive you can't stop watching her.

Robinson, a sophomore at Alonso High School, is using sign language to describe a candlelight vigil as Buck, also a sophomore, matches her voice to Robinson's hands as she speeds up and slows down to show emotion. They don't look alike, but after a few lines, they seem like the same character.

Robinson, 15, is deaf and appearing in her first play, 'The Laramie Project,' which opened Thursday at Alonso and runs through Saturday. She adjusts her mannerisms for each of her seven characters, and male and female cast members step in to vocalize what Robinson signs.

The show tells the story of Matthew Shepard, the gay college student who died after being beaten and tied to a fence in 1998. The play chronicles the aftermath in Laramie, Wyo., dramatizing interviews playwright Moises Kaufman and the Tectonic Theater Project conducted in the town. The 10 students in Alonso's ensemble play more than 60 characters.

The play's message of acceptance and diversity resonated with director Kathy Buck, Amanda's mother and an Alonso drama teacher. She selected 'Laramie' to open the play season and 'The Diary of Anne Frank' to end it because both, despite historical differences, show young people killed because of who they were.

'Sometimes teenagers can say hateful things, and I think it's more the reason that they're being thoughtless. They don't realize they're being hateful,' Buck said. 'A play can be entertaining, but it can also be didactic.'

It's good for the audience to see diverse actors, such as Robinson, in a play about diversity, Buck said. The show tonight will include an interpreter who will sign the play onstage.

'We're All The Same'

Robinson wanted to audition because acting sounded fun, she said through Buck, who knows enough sign language to communicate with her. She hopes people who see her act will recognize what a deaf student can do.

'I can do anything,' she signed.

Robinson became deaf as an infant after a stroke and can hear sounds but not understand them. She reads lips and signs, and the director and cast had to come up with visual ways to help her learn her cues and when to come onstage.

Amanda Buck, 16, said she hopes the audience recognizes Robinson's accomplishment in the show.

'The whole idea of the play is that we're all the same,' Buck said. 'She's just like one of us.'

Tolerance is the main theme of the show, she said, pointing to the T-shirts the cast wore to promote 'Laramie.' The shirts have the word's definition on the front and angel wings, for Shepard, on the back.

But less than a week before opening night, it looked like the show might not go on.

Principal Put Play On Hold

Principal Louis Diaz had concerns that language in the play, which in the original version includes cursing and homophobic slurs, was inappropriate for a high school, Hillsborough school district spokeswoman Linda Cobbe said. He put the play 'on hold,' Cobbe said, to make sure it met standards.

Riverview High School performed 'Laramie' in 2004 and also had to take out any language that violated the student code of conduct, Cobbe said.

Parents and students at Alonso became worried that the show had been canceled and met with the administration to plead for it to continue. Gina Szmyt, whose son is in the cast, attended the meeting and said she was angry that students had put in so much time and work for nothing.

She said the district seemed worried about fallout from the community for doing a controversial show. But the play has an important message: 'It has everything to do with a hate crime and opening your eyes,' Szmyt said.

Diaz agreed the play could continue, though some students and Alonso alumni on the online social site Myspace have circulated rumors the director could lose her job if the play generates controversy. They posted pictures of themselves with duct tape over their mouths and the word 'Laramie' on the tape.

Kathy Buck would not discuss the meeting with the principal or the rumors. Diaz referred questions to Cobbe, telling her the rumors were 'nonsense.' The director was not threatened, and the only question about the show was the language, Cobbe said.

Szmyt said Buck deserves credit for taking on a tough subject. High school students were children in 1998 and did not remember the incident. Studying for their parts opened their eyes, Szmyt said.

'It was a sick crime,' she said. 'If you haven't heard about it, you should hear about it.'

IF YOU GO

'The Laramie Project' started Thursday and will be staged at 7 p.m. today and Saturday at Alonso High School, 8302 Montague St. Tickets are $8.

Reporter Courtney Cairns Pastor can be reached at (813) 865-1503 or cpastor@tampatrib.com.

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