w w w . s h o s h a n n a h – s t e r n. c o m

by Michael Ausiello and Andy Patrick

Would I lie to you? Probably. But I’m telling you the truth when I say that Lie to Me has just cast Shoshannah Stern. The Jericho alum will recur during the show’s upcoming third season as a grad student hired to help Dr. Lightman (Tim Roth) write his new book.

Though some of psychologist’s colleagues fret that the newbie’s disability will make her job all but impossible—like the actress, the character is deaf—Lightman takes a shine to her.

Thoughts? Be honest, you think Stern is a pretty fantastic addition, don’t you? Hit the comments!

http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2010/07/21/lie-to-me-shoshannah-stern/

PHOTO CREDIT Michael Lamont

Reviewed by Dany Margolies

Very little makes cranky critics happier than suddenly, mid-play, remembering we are watching acting and not the real thing. It happened midway through this production of Mark Medoff’s 1980 play about the struggles of the deaf in a hearing world—and ultimately about all of our struggles to hear and be heard. The play’s two leads, Shoshannah Stern and Matthew Jaeger, are stellar. More »

http://www.backstage.com/bso/reviews-la-theatre/children-of-a-lesser-god-1004014080.story

Shoshannah Stern will star in Film Harvest’s Hamill, based on the life of deaf championship wrestler and current UFC fighter Matt Hamill.

http://www.screendaily.com/news/russell-harvard-shoshannah-stern-join-wrestler-biopic-hamill/5005086.article

I wanted to share with you my newest project.  I’m playing Sarah in Children of a Lesser God at Deaf West Theater in North Hollywood.  It’s the 30th year anniversary from when it was last shown there.  It went on to Broadway to introduce the world to a deaf character like they’d never seen before.  Phyllis Frelich, who originated the role of Sarah, went on to win a Tony.  Then the film version was made a few years later, with Marlee Matlin as Sarah, who then went on to win an Academy Award.

So, I’m truly honored that they asked me to be the next actor to officially play the role of Sarah.  I hope I do the character justice!  Previews start September 6-11, and it opens on September 12.  The run begins from there to October 11, but we will have a possible extension of one week since I have to go to New York to shoot something that last week.   Murphy’s law.  But if you want to come then, or if you’ve already bought your tickets, the shows will be postponed so you won’t be seeing a show without me.

Deaf West Theater is based in North Hollywood, and it has a very helpful website (complete with a picture of me attempting to look as 1979 as possible AND randomly wearing Carol Barbee’s shirt from when she did Picnic at CTG!) at www.deafwest.org.

I hope to see you there!

-Shoshannah

I just saw the most amazing short film, Ingelore. It’s showing in Los Angeles this week. If you live here, you HAVE to see it.

http://docuweeksla.bside.com/2009/films/ingelore

It’s amazing. i want everybody to go see it!

-Shoshannah

“You don’t have to hear your voice to be able to use it.”

Shoshannah Stern – a deaf actress most recognized for her roles on the cult hit series Jericho and Showtime’s Weeds – took a moment to speak with us about her recent NO H8 photo shoot, which featured a group of her deaf peers standing up against hate.  “Since my native language is a visual one, a photography campaign felt like the most natural thing for me to do.”

Shoshannah also shared some insight with us as to why she’s fighting for marriage equality and how it connects to deaf rights.

“Alexander Graham Bell, the dude who invented the telephone, was married to a deaf woman. He had a lot of ideas about what us deaf people should do or should not do. He actually tried to get a law passed banning deaf people from marrying other deaf people. If that had happened, I would not be here today. I’ve used that comparison to get a lot of people – deaf or not – to see why Proposition 8 is so wrong and flawed.”

To read more – go to www.bouska.net/noh8

by Evan Henerson, LA Stage Scene Examiner, www.examiner.com

OK, so this is not exactly a homecoming, since the play in question was first produced before the nationally renowned Deaf West Theatre was even in existence.

Still, there’s a certain cosmic synchronicity about Deaf West Theatre producing a 30th anniversary revival of Mark Medoff’s “Children of a Lesser God” some 10-15 miles down the freeway from the Mark Taper Forum where Gordon Davidson’s Center Theatre Group first put Medoff – and to some extent theater of and for the deaf – on the map.

CTG’s production of “Children” told the story of a love affair between a hearing speech teacher James Leeds and his deaf student Sarah Norman. Performed in English and American sign language, the Taper production directed by Davidson, transferred to Broadway in 1982 and ran for two years, winning the 1980 Tony Award for Best Play. Stars John Rubinstein and Phyllis Frelich each won acting Tony awards as well. The 1986 movie won Marlee Matlin an Oscar.

Deaf West was founded in 1991 and has produced more than 30 plays and adaptations – for its deaf and hearing audiences. Of late, the company has made a name for itself with sign language adaptations of musicals such as “Big River,” “Pippin,” “Sleeping Beauty Wakes” and “Oliver.”
Frelich has performed regularly at Deaf West including stints in the world premier of Medoff’s “Road to a Revolution” in 2001 and in “Big River.” Rubinstein used to perform regularly in North Hollywood as well when his Interact Theatre Co. was based in NoHo, barely a block away from Deaf West’s home on Lankershim Boulevard. More recently, Rubinstein played an extended run as the Wizard in the sit down company of “Wicked” at the Pantages Theatre.

The current revival of “Lesser God,” which plays Sept. 13 to Oct. 11, is directed by Jonathan Barlow Lee who was the stage manager for Davidson’s original production. Shoshannah Stern and Matthew Jaeger will play Sarah Norman and James Leeds respectively.

How cool would it be if they could get Rubinstein, Frelich and Davidson all to be in the audience opening night.

Deaf West is located at 5112 Lankershim Blvd.

About the Author at www.examiner.com: Evan Henerson sees a lot of plays in a movie town. He has written for Backstage, Stage Directions, and is the former theater critic for the Los Angeles Daily News. E-mail Evan at EHenerson@sbcglobal.net.

Find Shoshannah on Twitter!

http://twitter.com/Shoshannah7

Hello, everyone!  I know, I know.  It’s been so long since I’ve written.  I’ve had many exasperated conversations with friends who don’t understand why I don’t write more.  It’s not that I don’t want to.  It must be annoying to keep checking back and keep seeing the same entry from November.  Thank you for bearing with me, seriously.

It’s just that often, I feel like what I have to say wouldn’t be that interesting.  Like, I just joined Twitter and I haven’t said anything in three days because my first entries went like this:  Yay, I love coffee.  Yay, I joined Twitter.  Okay. So… now what? Ultimately, you guys have to be the judge of that and not me, so I humbly defer to all y’all. 

Anyway.  My point being…  I’ve recently been inspired.  Really inspired. 

I had a sit-down conversation with myself a few months ago, where I decided that maybe I wanted to branch out a bit more.  I love what I’ve been able to do with my life thus far.  I definitely want to keep doing it, but the reality is that 99% of it lies out of my control.  The 1% is preparing and showing up for auditions.  The remainder is up to what absolutely everyone else involved wants, and that’s totally okay with me.  It is what it is, and I chose to do this with eyes wide open.  But I found that I was starting to feel increasingly sorry for myself.   

So, I decided to start teaching part-time.  That’s where I’ve been the past couple months.  I love it, and a big part of that is selfish, because I feel like I’m the one that ends up learning the most.  Granted, it’s not a 9 to 5 job, and I go from school to school teaching things that I am passionate about, which is a very special situation.

I just got back from Louisiana a couple weeks ago.  I taught a two day workshop at the Louisiana School for the Deaf, and the teacher that arranged for me to be there chose to show a clip of the “Yes, We Can” video that I was in.  We had more time than we expected at the end of the workshop, and the teacher wanted me to recite the chorus of the song to wrap up the workshop, which seemed like a good idea.  So, we did, and the kids were amazing.  They shouted “Yes, we can!” at the top of their lungs and were so totally engaged and thrilled.

For me, it felt like a total rebirth.  I know that Obama winning the election meant so much to so many different people.  I see people walking around with “Yes, We Did!” shirts, and I love seeing that.  But, even now I still get a lot of questions from people who would ask me what exactly “Yes, we can” meant.  Yes, we can… what?

I could partially understand that perspective before I went to Louisiana, because a lot of lofty principles and ideas were brought up in the speech Obama gave that inspired the video.  It could seem a bit weighty, and it could be seen as though he was making generalizations. 

But when I saw those kids screaming that simple message, “Yes, we can!” back at me, I realized then that it’s only the privilege of being an adult that allows us to take away from that.  It takes the experience of disappointment and bitterness to make us feel like we can’t do what we hope to do in our lives.   

I know I’ve felt like that in the past few months, and I’ll probably will again.  But when you really get down to basics, it’s a choice I made to feel that way.  Either we believe we can or we believe we can’t.  It takes an equal amount of commitment and investment either way.

After I saw these kids in Louisiana, some who still live in poverty after being severely affected by the hurricanes, and some of who are still displaced, so ready to believe in the positive and choose the good… well, it made me feel more than humbled. 

It made me feel stupid.  And I loved that.  Thank you, LSD.

photo credit: tate tullier, www.tatetullier.com