“People don't do musicals with deaf actors for a reason,” said Spencer Liff when he first signed on as choreographer to Deaf West Theatre’s revival of the Tony-winning Spring Awakening two years ago. Since then, the praised Los Angeles production has opened on Broadway for a limited engagement with a cast of both hearing and deaf actors, singing and signing to Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater’s rock songs of adolescent unease. And besides picking up American Sign Language, Liff learned a few things about choreographing for an underserved audience, uniting a cast on and off stage and, most importantly, turning what may seem to be a shortcoming into a standout attribute.
“We’re taking advantage, certainly, rather than trying to hide what they've got going on,” he explained. “When you watch our show, it feels a bit like watching a foreign movie with subtitles — for the first few minutes, you're incredibly aware of the signing, and trying to figure out how to watch. But ten minutes in, I think it washes over you, you stop thinking about the disabilities, and you just watch it.”
The Hollywood Reporter spoke with Liff about the 10 things to know regarding the revival's specific choreography:
