[Performance clip – “Stephen Sondheim’s Company by Deaf Broadway” in American Sign Language]
James “Joey” Caverly (interview): “We have a lot of heart. We have many people here who are local to New York City who have been involved in the theater scene for many years. And we have people here who are from out of state who came to New York to be involved in this production. And the Roots of Deaf Broadway really started because of people who had the passion and the love for the art.”
[Performance clip – “Stephen Sondheim’s Company by Deaf Broadway” in American Sign Language]
Garrett Zuercher (interview): “We never intended to start a theater company. That was never really the goal. We just wanted to get together and have some fun as friends. We were all stuck at home in early 2020. We started on March 22nd, 2020, which was Stephen Sondheim’s 90th birthday. Joey and I were living together at that time as roommates, and we wanted to celebrate his birthday, so we opened a Zoom room and hosted a watch party for Sondheim’s birthday, which included, of course, ‘Sweeney Todd,’ and ‘Into the Woods.’”
[Performance clip – “Stephen Sondheim’s Company by Deaf Broadway” in American Sign Language]
Garrett Zuercher (interview): “During that, we realized that the captions were not adequate. I mean, they’re great, but we wanted more. We wanted native language, native ASL users because captions are so flat, they don’t capture any of the emotion. And Stephen Sondheim is famous for his complex music, his overlapping rhythms — two songs happening simultaneously — and captions really can’t reflect that.”
[Troy Kotsur posing on red carpet]
Garrett Zuercher (interview): “Troy played my father in a show called ‘Big River’ by Deaf West, and I have known him for 20 years. I knew him when he was couch surfing as an actor, and I saw that we were the same. So, I actually don’t see him as like a big, honorable, venerable star because I’ve known him for so long, and I see him as just another guy. And that’s what’s cool about the deaf theater community is we don’t see each other as all these huge celebrities. We are a family because we all know each other.”
[Performance clip – “Stephen Sondheim’s Company by Deaf Broadway” in American Sign Language]
James “Joey” Caverly (interview): “Troy was involved in one of our Deaf Broadway productions. Actually, he was in ‘Les Misérables’ playing Jean Valjean. And so, this was before ‘Coda’ was released, also. But that speaks volumes about the kind of person that Troy is, who was willing to be involved in any small little project, small projects, big projects, anything for the deaf community.”
[Performance clip – “Stephen Sondheim’s Company by Deaf Broadway” in American Sign Language]
Garrett Zuercher (interview): “I grew up a deaf boy in Wisconsin, in rural Wisconsin. Farms and cows and corn and Broadway was unattainably far. So, my entrance was PBS and their Great Performances on film. And I remember one particular show called ‘The Leading Ladies.’ I remember watching it. I was watching Audra McDonald sing ‘Where I Hang my Hat as Home.’ She sang that line, and I was just captivated by how she physicalized the role and how she delivered that song. And I told myself, someday I’m going to New York to do that.”
[Performance clip – “Stephen Sondheim’s Company by Deaf Broadway” in American Sign Language]
Garrett Zuercher (interview): “Really, what’s interesting for me is this is a unique challenge because I’m not just playing Bobby, I’m also producing. And I feel that those two roles really connect well, because my role in the show, we have several couples and I’m in and out of their lives, and Bobby just learns and observes from each of these couples.”
[Performance clip – “Stephen Sondheim’s Company by Deaf Broadway” in American Sign Language]
This script was provided by The Associated Press.