we've all got our junk

And my junk is Deaf West’s Broadway Revival of Spring Awakening.

Here’s what happened:

I received a lengthy text message which included a detailed description including persuasive reasons as to why I must must must

you (all three images taken from this video)

must

must cont.

see Deaf West’s Broadway Revival of Spring Awakening, including the fact that it is life changing. This text was from my theatre-cousin-sister-best-friend-actress-person, so I had reason to believe this was reasonably reliable information and a reasonably good idea. My family was already planning a trip to New York (from which I returned absolutely recently), so I thought we could make this happen.

I started researching ticket prices and dates immediately.

It happened quickly, but my sister-cousin-best-friend (who lives near the greatest city in the world, work) bought two tickets, each for $108.25, which I payed her back in a cash-filled envelope with her name on it. We arrived in New York City on Thursday after a two hour drive from the Newark Airport (gridlocked. surprise, surprise). Our tickets were for Friday night.

I don’t have words to explain it.

The show was amazing; it was brilliant. It was beautiful. Half of the cast, more or less, was deaf or hard-of-hearing. Each character either had two actors, one signing and one for voice, or one actor who both sang/spoke and signed. I don’t want to spoil anything or say too much, but the way they did the whole thing was stunning. The voices for the signing actors were sort of like their minds or consciences, or a more real version of themselves. I don’t know how to explain it. It was beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.

Really. Look @ this masterpiece. (photo from here)

During ‘Totally Fucked’ the whole show sort of hit me. It’s so POWERFUL. The whole thing. I can’t speak, or type rather, but it was ridiculous.

In a good way, of course.

Afterward, my lovely sister-cousin and I waited by the stage door. I was "sort of" in shock.

Joshua Castille liked my cotton candy hair. AH. I signed ‘thank you’ and ‘beautiful’ over and over to Treshelle Edmond. She hugged me and was super lovely and I was internally freaking out in the best way possible.

I can’t describe.

I wanted to learn ASL (American Sign Language) when my mother took classes. And then I wanted to learn it even more when I met friends who sign. And now, because of this show, it is absolutely vital that I learn ASL. I just have to. I know a little little little bit, but I simply must learn more.

According to the card thing that was in the playbill, you can find local ASL classes at signlanguagecenter.com, or learn by downloading the ‘Marlee Signs’ app. I haven’t tried either of these things (yet), but I’ll take their word for it, and maybe you could too.

If you want to fully immerse yourself in the Deaf West Spring Awakening life, you don’t have to see the show. If you can, by all means, but we can’t all live in New York City or fly there on a whim, can we now?

Here’s what you should do:

Listen to the soundtrack. It’s honestly not very long, and it’s very good. For the fulfillment of all of your teen-angst needs, you can find the Original Broadway Cast Recording on iTunes here. I highly recommend it.

Here’s what else:

Learn ASL (tools above). It’s way cool. And honestly super useful if your friends speak it too.

Watch the Vlogs of Purple Summer (found on YouTube here). These cast vlogs are super cute. I’m only on Episode 2 and I’m already in love with everyone. It’s a great time.

There’s always YouTube mining as well. Do some searches and see where you end up. The internet isn't such a bad place after all.

oooh ahhh

This show is absolutely brilliant, Deaf West is brilliant, the cast is brilliant. It’s all just brilliant.

Just like that,

me

P.S. Happy New Years Eve!!
P.P.S. What the actual hell is going on with the spacing ITHOUGHTIFIXEDIT