World Report: February 4, 2000
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Grades 4-6
Talking with His Hands
"Go greased lightning. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go." Those lyrics are fun when you hear them sung to a rollicking beat in the musical Grease! But they're pretty boring if you can't hear the music!
Capturing the spirit of that song without sound was a challenge for Claude Shirts, who uses sign-language to interpret plays for deaf audiences. "I try to tell the story that the music is telling," he says. Rather than repeating the sign for "go" over and over, he imitated the motions of driving: "I showed the character sitting in a car with his hair going straight back in the wind."
Shirts, 37, works with Hands On!, a New York City group that interprets theater shows for deaf people. Although parts of Grease! were tough, his biggest challenge, he says, has been interpreting the plays of William Shakespeare, because they are written in old-fashioned language. "At first, I had not a clue what the characters were saying," he admits. "I had to do so much preparation."
Certified sign-language interpreters, who must pass a written test and a performance test, are in demand across much of the country. They interpret between deaf and hearing people in courtrooms, classrooms, hospitals, town meetings, speeches and plays.
Shirts' interest in signing started when he took a college course in American Sign Language. (Many different sign languages are used around the world.) After two years of study, he took an interpreter-training program and soon began working as an interpreter.
At Hands On! performances, Shirts stands in front of the stage, where deaf audience members can watch him sign and also see the on-stage action. Instead of the usual clapping at the end of a show, Shirts is rewarded with the unique applause given by deaf audiences: the sight of outstretched arms and waving palms moving in silent circles.
