Livestream Will Benefit Deaf Austin Theater's ASL Production of THE LARAMIE PROJECT

Join BROADWAY SIGNs! PRIDE! A Benefit for Deaf Austin Theater’s First Ever ASL Production of the Laramie Project, live from The Triad Theater.

Join Broadway’s Sandra Mae Frank (Deaf West Spring Awakening  Revival, NBC’s New Amsterdam and Co-Host Joey Antonio (Dance Camp, Zoe’s Extraordinary Playlist) celebrate PRIDE with a stellar cabaret of American Sign Language (ASL) Poetry & Broadway Hits from Rent, La Cage Aux Folles and more performed by Deaf Artists!  All ticket proceeds benefit Deaf Austin Theatre’s (DAT) fall production of The Laramie Project, written by Moises Kaufman and Tectonic Theater Project.

The one-night only livestream benefit debuts Saturday, September 23rd 8 pm EST.

Featuring members from Deaf Austin Theatre’s The Laramie Project Joey Caverly (Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building), Dickie Hearts (Public’s Dark Disabled Stories), Heba Toulan (DAT & ZACH Theatre’s Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella), Kailyn Aaron-Lozano (DAT & ZACH Theater’s Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella), Jules Dameron (Director, The Laramie Project). Special Guest performances from Broadway’s Grey House Erin Rosenfeld and Andrew Morrill (The Music Man). CoHosts Sandra Mae Frank, Joey Antonio and DAT’s Artistic Director and Actor Brian Cheslik along with 2023 Helen Hayes Award Winner for Best Actor in a Musical Joey Caverly (The Music Man) share their favorite Broadway revue of songs! 

Special Guest Barbara Pitt McAdams Tectonic Theater Writer, an original cast member  of The Laramie Project along with DAT’s Artistic Director Dr. Brian Cheslik and Director Jules Dameron kick off cultural pride and honor the life and legacy of Matthew Shepard. GLAAD interviewed Cheslik and Director Dameron who highlight the historic the First Ever ASL Production of The Laramie Project by Deaf Austin Theatre through a Deaf lens in the article to bring awareness to the Deaf LGBTQIA community.https://glaad.org/first-ever-asl-production-of-laramie-project-by-deaf-austin-theatre/

The Broadway SIGNs! PRIDE! Cast perform excerpts from the critically acclaimed Stonewall Honor Book October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard written by Leslea Newman, in American Sign Language (ASL). Featuring Christian Brailsford (Pretty Woman) reading the prose in Spoken English with a live musical underscore by Kevin Winebold.  Offering a powerful visual prelude to Deaf Austin Theatre’s ASL production of The Laramie Project which runs September 6-17th at Ground Floor Theater in Austin, TX.

All Performances are in American Sign Language & Spoken English plus Captions. Music Director & Pianist Kevin Winebold, Disney Theatrical Group. Stage Manager Miriam Rochford. Production Assistant Katie Lloyd. ASL Interpretation by Zak Taylor, Alberto Medero, and J. Damas. Produced by Jo-Ann Dean, SIGNmation. Broadway SIGNs! PRIDE! Sponsor Barbara Chubb, Owner/BEA Investment Group.

The Laramie Project is a thought-provoking documentary play that explores the aftermath of the tragic 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, a young gay college student in Laramie, Wyoming. The play delves into the impact of the incident on the local community and raises important questions about prejudice, hate crimes and tolerance. DAT aims to promote inclusivity, accessibility, and awareness of these same experiences faced by the Deaf and LGBTQIA communities. The Poetry selections from October Mourning performed by the cast connect us to Matthew Shepard’s final hours with The Doe, The Fence, and Then & Now. The writer Leslea Newman was the keynote speaker for the Laramie Student Body Gay Awareness week, it was the last outing Matthew Shepard attended the night he was abducted. Her work bears witness to the aftermath and testament to The Laramie Project. 

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