Deaf and Blind Actors Perform CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD in Israel

The 2018 Broadway revival of Mark Medoff's 1979 Tony Award-winning drama Children of a Lesser God closed in May, but it has inspired a new production in Israel!

An adaptation of the play is enjoying a run in Jaffa at Nalaga'at, a unique theater ensemble composed of deaf and blind actors.

Nalaga'at, whose name in Hebrew means "Please Touch," brings people together in a unique, nonprofit center of culture and arts that serves as a meeting place for deaf, blind, deaf-blind and the general public.

The center is located in the refurbished Old Jaffa Port, and includes two experiential restaurants: Kapish, staffed by deaf and hearing-impaired waiters; and BlackOut, where blind and vision-impaired waiters accompany the guests to a meal in the dark.

Before presenting Children of a Lesser God, hearing-impaired Nalaga'at staff members teach the audience a few key phrases in sign language to help in understanding the play. When cast members take their bows at the end, the audience waves instead of claps so that the actors can see and receive their praise.

Actor El-ad Cohen, who plays Orin Dennis, is a married gay man with two children, and he says he has never experienced discrimination for being gay, but he has faced plenty as a deaf person.

"The issues [raised by the play] are still relevant because Israel still practices the oral method, not sign language," Cohen tells ISRAEL21c. "There is an attempt to turn members of the deaf and hearing-impaired community into 'hearing' and eliminate the 'disease' of deafness with solutions like cochlear implants, which are not really a solution but an aid that can be effective when used together with sign language."

"As a speaker of ISL, I definitely identify with the play," Cohen states. "We face a never-ending battle to make [the hearing] understand that they can't understand our culture without first understanding our language - it is important and necessary."

Children of a Lesser God has a limited run at Nalaga'at through December 20.