Deaf theater production of ‘Cuckoo’s Nest’ takes unique approach to classic

AURORA | Any new student to American Sign Language is in store for a crash course in expressiveness.

It’s a language that relies on hand gestures and, to a lesser degree, facial expressions for its power. The ASL vocabulary can convey worlds of meaning in the slightest movement of hands and fingers; an animated smile or a slight arch of an eyebrow can add even more depth to those cues. That’s why the language is such a perfect training tool for any aspiring actor, according to Pat Payne. Payne is co-directing the Rocky Mountain Deaf Theatre company’s current production of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” and he’s spent months learning the language. He’s rehearsed with both deaf and hearing actors involved in the show, and he’s found a kind of revelation in ASL.

Deaf and hearing actors perform “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, Sept. 26 at Vintage Theatre in the Aurora Cultural Arts District. The Rocky Mountain Deaf Theatre company’s production takes the character Randle Patrick McMurphy’s struggles against the establishment to a deeper level by adding on the layered theme of communication access between the hearing and deaf cultures. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)

“The sign language in this show is stunningly and hauntingly beautiful,” Payne said. He spoke of watching deaf actors rehearse, of tracking a single performer’s hands and eyes on stage. “It’s such a communicative language. I kept saying to myself, ‘This guy is such an incredible actor … If any actor had that amount of expression, they’d be brilliant.’”

It’s hardly the first time a RMDT production has built bridges between the worlds of the hearing and the deaf. Since founder Nicki Runge launched the troupe two years ago, one of its central missions has been to establish those kind of connections. Runge, an accomplished local actor and director, founded the company in part to offer more opportunities to deaf artists like herself, aspiring actors, directors and crew members who’d been cut out of the loop of the hearing theater.

But Runge has always insisted that the heart of the RMDT company has been about offering access between both worlds. And the company’s production of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” will start this weekend at the Vintage Theatre in the Aurora Cultural Arts District, and stands as a milestone in seeing that mission through.

“We want to do it a little different, to involve the hearing so we can learn from them and they can learn from us,” Runge said through an interpreter. Runge co-directed “Cuckoo’s Nest” with Payne. “Hearing and deaf actors working together — that impacts me. I think that will be an impact to the people in the audience too. They can work together; they can learn from each other in the moment.”

That kind of collaboration plays into the way the company is staging “Cuckoo’s Nest,” a drama written by Dale Wasserman based on the 1962 novel by Ken Kesey and the subsequent film adaptation from 1972. In both of those tellings, the story has stood as a major critique of American society’s treatment of the mentally ill. After faking mental illness to get out of a prison sentence, Randle Patrick McMurphy is sent to a mental institution in Oregon. He antagonizes the sanitarium’s crew of nurses and orderlies, and his rebellious nature quickly pits the rest of the patients against the powers-that-be.

In the RMDT take on the drama, the division between the patients and the staff gains a deeper dimension. Here, the staff is made up of the hearing, and the patients are all deaf. In this show, McMurphy’s struggles against the establishment take on a deeper feel of a culture clash. In one scene, a nurse seeks to break a patient named Billy Bibbit from using sign language. Bibbit is an “oral deaf,” a person who can speak but who can’t hear. To encourage Bibbit to talk, Ratchett ties his hands to a desk.

That treatment to “cure” ASL was taken straight from the childhood experiences of an oral deaf cast member, Payne said.

“We took a lot of those experiences and we brought it into our play,” Payne said. “The hope is that this will be a story that will make sense to both the deaf and hearing community.”

Even so, Payne and Runge were careful to include stretches of silence in the show, long moments when sound is absent and the only communication is from interpreters.

“I wanted the audience to feel what it’s like to be a deaf person, if only for a second,” Payne said. “By the same token, there are moments onstage where two hearing actors onstage talk back and forth.”

Collaborating to add those distinct touches to a literary cornerstone was a new experience for Runge, who’s directed several RMDT shows. Directing with Payne to lead a cast and crew of deaf and hearing was also new for Runge, just as it’s a new step for a company designed to make connections. Mounting this show has meant making sure interpreters are visible to the audience at all times; it’s taught a theater veteran like Payne new lessons about conveying a message on stage.

“In the deaf community, you have to be looking at me in order to understand me. In their everyday life, they’re so used to looking at each other directly in order to communicate,” Payne said. “As a hearing director, I really relied on Nicki to help me.”

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