PROVO — Deaf and hearing actors from Cleveland Signstage on Tour will bring the story of Roald Dahl's adventurous "James and the Giant Peach" to life through sign and speech in an adaptation of the story at Brigham Young University.
In "James and the Giant Peach," 3-year-old James Trotter is sent to live with his mean Aunt Spiker and cruel Aunt Sponge after his family is killed in a bizarre accident. One day while working in the garden, a mysterious man gives James a gift that changes his life and involves a magical peach.
As he leaves behind the sadness of his life with his vicious aunts, James sets forth on a journey with larger-than-life insects. In this tale of friendship, love, sadness and triumph, James and his new friends see oceans and cloudmakers, are towed through the sky by sea gulls and create a stir in the Big Apple when their gigantic peach lands on the Empire State Building.
Signstage on Tour specializes in sign language theater, where deaf and hearing actors perform together on stage. Whenever a character speaks, the character speaking uses American Sign Language and the voice comes from a different actor speaking through a microphone, sometimes onstage and sometimes offstage. The stage is filled with the movement of hands and bodies, yet every word is spoken to make sure all audience members, both deaf and hearing, don't miss a thing.
If you go . . .
What: "James and the Giant Peach"
Where: de Jong Concert Hall, Harris Fine Arts Center, BYU campus, Provo
When: 7:30 p.m., Feb. 29-March 1; 2 p.m. matinee March 1
Cost: $10/$6 students, children and matinee seats
Phone: 422-4322
Web: signstage.org