Deaf and hearing actors join forces for the new OKC staging of 'Cinderella': What to know

Sweeping from one end of the rehearsal room to the other, Sandra Mae Frank twirls, kicks and shimmies to a wistful piano playing the familiar tune "In My Own Little Corner."

The Broadway, film and television star's hands stay in almost constant motion as she gracefully sign-sings, using American Sign Language , along with dance, body language and facial expressions, to perform the classic princess "I Want" song .

When she finishes the musical number by sinking onto a wooden stool with a deep sigh, the longing of her Cinderella is clearly understood by everyone in the room, whether they're deaf, hearing or hard of hearing.

"I actually took music classes growing up, I love music; I just don't sing vocally. But sometimes putting this music on the hands, it's not just signing something. ... I memorize the song; I know the tempo." explains Frank, who is deaf and uses ASL, during a break in rehearsals.

"For example, 'In My Own Little Corner,' that's the English word order. ... In American Sign Language, I would sign, 'in my private, cute corner.' And it's still in tune with the tempo of the song."

For the final title of Lyric Theatre's three-show "Summer at the Civic" season, Oklahoma's official state theater is again teaming with Deaf Austin Theatre as well as the Zach Theatre in Austin, Texas, to make the magic of Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Cinderella."

Co-directed by Lyric Producing Artistic Director Michael Baron and Deaf Austin Theatre Artistic Director Brian A. Cheslik , the innovative retelling of the beloved musical fairy tale will be performed simultaneously and seamlessly in English and American Sign Language July 30-Aug. 4 at the Civic Center.

"This is my third time here, and I am in love with Lyric Theatre ," Frank told The Oklahoman with the aid of an ASL interpreter. "I will always keep coming back Lyric Theatre. There's a lot of creativity in this space, and it's one of the few theaters in which I feel I'm heard. I don't have to fight with the creative directors. I am here to work, and Michael is brilliant to work with."

Where have Lyric Theatre fans seen 'Cinderella' star Sandra Mae Frank before?

Known for her performances in Deaf West Theatre's 2015 Broadway revival of "Spring Awakening" and in the 2018-2023 NBC series "New Amsterdam," Frank previously appeared in Lyric's 2016 staging of "Fiddler on the Roof" and 2018 OKC premiere production of "Fun Home."

"Our audiences still talk about that production (of 'Fiddler on the Roof') as seeing the show in a new way and becoming more empathetic to people they didn't know," Baron told The Oklahoman in a joint interview with Cheslik. "We knew that this was exciting, powerful, worth doing."

In "Fiddler on the Roof," Frank and Christopher Tester, a former student of Baron's at Holy Cross College who is playing Lord Pinkleton in "Cinderella," were the only two deaf performers in the show.

"Secondly, I was here in "Fun Home " solo, and I told Michael that it should be a bigger show, maybe half deaf, half hearing, next time. And here we are six years later, with 'Cinderella' ... being produced with half deaf and half hearing actors and actresses," said Frank, who is production manager for Deaf Austin Theatre .

"All of the hearing and deaf people are integrated, and you can play with language. People know the story: Everyone knows the story of 'Cinderella,' and so we give it a deaf lens, a new lens."

What can audiences expect from Lyric Theatre's innovative new production of 'Cinderella?'

The groundbreaking production of "Cinderella," which also includes a mix of deaf and hearing theater artists working behind the scenes on the creative team, was previously staged last year at the Zach Theatre in Austin. The show is designed to be equally accessible to hearing, deaf and hard of hearing audiences, as it seamlessly integrates English and ASL.

The musical still features the memorable songs "A Lovely Night," “Impossible” and “Ten Minutes Ago," and about 90% of the show will be sung, danced, and spoken in English, much like in a typical musical theater experience. The other 10%, as with Frank's solo on the title character's theme "In My Own Little Corner," will be performed in ASL without spoken English.

"We started to really try and challenge the entire concept of deaf theater — and try and identify scenes and songs where we really wanted to go silent and not have any English voice," said Cheslik, who is deaf and uses ASL.

"ASL is a beautiful language all on its own. It's incredibly fluid, and it really works well with music. So, why can't we have that language and music all on its own, and just let it be beautiful? And the important thing would be to make sure it was 100% accessible to everyone. So, we will do that by having captions set up for the entire production."

The production incorporates supertitles, like those commonly used in opera, to show the dialogue, lyrics and other details on large screens. Some scenes are only performed in either ASL or English with the supertitled captions, so the show is recommended for children ages 6 and older, since reading is required for some scenes.

Ticketholders also can use the GalaPro mobile app , which provides captions on a user's smartphone.

"Typically, in theater, when they incorporate deaf characters, they do shadow interpreting, where you have a deaf person on stage and a hearing person on stage doing the English, and I, as a deaf person, really don't like that, because it really takes the power from the deaf performer — especially if the character is deaf, and we have to have a hearing person on stage with them to share the spotlight. It's really not fair to them as a deaf artists," said Cheslik with the aid of an ASL interpreter.

"There aren't many opportunities for deaf artists in this industry, period. So, we thought, 'Why don't we give them the spotlight in full to honor their authentic voice in sign language, not to glaze it over with English?'"

How does the new production adapt Rodgers & Hammerstein's 'Cinderella' for deaf artists and audiences?

The Lyric rehearsal room suddenly gets crowded as Trey Harrington's Prince Topher triumphantly marches in, accompanied by a royal entourage of cast members bearing swords, flags and horse puppets, to run through the number “Me, Who Am I?” In the new production, the prince is played as a CODA, or a child of deaf adults.

"The prince knows how to sign, and when he meets Ella, who is deaf, they're able to communicate. And so we negate that communication barrier," Frank explains after her castmates wind down the number. "Because people are familiar with this story, we can play around with the songs in the musical. ... It's a beautiful, beautiful production."

Longtime Lyric performer Lexi Windsor , who is taking over the character of Madame, AKA the wicked stepmother, said Cheslik gave her specific directions to get in Ella's face, to use big, crude gestures and to talk loudly and exaggeratedly, behaviors that are particularly offensive to the deaf community.

"When Michael asked me to come in for this, I said, 'I would love to. I would love to be a part of this.' It's gonna be difficult because it's new, and learning new things is hard. But I think as we grow, we should expand and learn new things. I would say this is definitely new to me in the world of Lyric," she said.

"Being a theater baby, born and bred ... I love the outreach to newer communities that might be newer to the theater because they haven't felt they could access it as well in the past."

For Cheslik, the fairytale production is blazing new trails for accessibility.

"This is not traditional deaf theater. ... This show is deaf focused, because they have a deaf director. They have deaf leadership in the production. 'Spring Awakening' wasn't a production that the deaf community understood, because it was designed for a hearing audience. But this is designed for everyone," he said. "So, why not make this type of new wave for the future? ... We are ready. We're ready to go to New York, because this is different."

After seeing an enchanted moment between two children last year during "Cinderella's" Austin run, Baron said he's excited to bring the show to OKC.

"There were two sisters in the audience, little girls, one was deaf, and one was hearing. And the deaf sister said, 'This is the first time that I've been the princess.' And the hearing sister wasn't jealous; she was happy for her," he said. "I think that is kind of the lesson of the whole thing: As opposed to, as a hearing person, being frustrated with having to work a little bit or to learn something new, you actually find joy in seeing someone else succeed and be in the spotlight. So, that's the goal."

'CINDERELLA'

• When: July 30-Aug. 4.
• Where: Civic Center, 201 N Walker.
• Tickets and information: https://lyrictheatreokc.com .

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Deaf and hearing actors join forces for the new OKC staging of 'Cinderella': What to know