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Silent Titans' program has a lot to say
College students' bilingual variety show features American Sign Language and spoken English.
By TERRI BRYCE REEVES
Published April 11, 2006
CLEARWATER - Call it a show of hands.
Wednesday night, the Silent Titans will sponsor Silent Night Live, a variety show with a twist. The program - geared to both hearing and deaf audience members - will be presented in American Sign Language and spoken English.
Deaf individuals and students studying sign language will dance and interpret music and poetry.
It's a first for the Silent Titans, a sign language club at St. Petersburg College's Clearwater campus. The club has about 45 members, said Annmarie Stasica, the event's chairwoman and a student in the interpreter training program.
The show begins at 6 p.m. in the campus Arts Auditorium at 2465 Drew St. Proceeds will benefit the Deaf and Hearing Connection in Seminole, the Family Center on Deafness in Pinellas Park, Lily the Love Frog in Clearwater and the Pinellas Public Library Cooperative's Deaf Literacy Center.
"We wanted to create an event to give back to organizations that serve the deaf and allow us to get our volunteer hours. We also wanted to showcase our talents and raise awareness of the deaf community," she said.
About 350 students take American Sign Language classes at SPC campuses, and 50 of those have declared sign language interpretation as their major.
The event was timed to coincide with Deaf History Month, March 13 to April 15, which celebrates key events in deaf heritage. On March 13, 1988, students at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., were successful in demanding a deaf president for the university. On April 15, the first public school for the deaf opened its doors in 1817.
The acts - about 35 in all - will include a mixed ability dance group, which features both disabled and able-bodied dancers, as well as a musical revue of songs like Lean on Me , I Believe I Can Fly and New York, New York .
The event will also include comedy acts, poetry, a special bedtime story, a silent auction and door prizes.
Hundreds of tickets have been sold, said Stasica. The auditorium seats 570.
"We're hoping to fill all the seats," she said. "It should be a wonderful and fun way for the deaf and hearing communities to bond."
--Correspondent Terri Reeves can be reached at treeves@tampabay.rr.com
[Last modified April 11, 2006, 02:30:31]
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