ANAMOSA, Iowa (KCRG) - A new play in Anamosa is the first play of its kind being performed in Eastern Iowa.
“Bury Me” is being performed by deaf actors, entirely in American Sign Language.
Director Jennifer Smith says what makes it even more special, is that the play isn’t about being deaf. “I had met with Grant Freeman, the writer, and I told him that I wanted to have a story that involves deaf people that doesn’t have them trying to find their voice or being upset about being deaf or having to go through the struggles of being deaf,” says Smith. “Bury Me” follows the story of Izzy and Andi after the death of their brother Paul, with themes that all audiences can relate to.
And, all audiences can understand and enjoy the show. Each character has an actor, and a voice actor- someone standing off to the side, speaking the lines along with the actor’s signs. That way, Smith says, you don’t have to know sign language to sit in the audience.
Gretchen Brown-Waech plays Andi, and describes her as a world-traveler. She says the experience of working with a deaf cast has been amazing. “My experience in theater has been with hearing people,” says Brown-Waech. “No offense to hearing people, of course, but it is a different experience, especially working with the director, who can sign and understands deaf culture. It’s oh, it’s just a different world.”
Smith understands deaf culture because she grew up with it as a CODA, or child of deaf adults. “That’s my love for the deaf community is, I’ve grown up in it and so it’s just a part of me,” says Smith.
She has a special connection to one of the actors. The character of Paul is being played by her father, Jeff Dahle. “When you do a scene in ASL, you know you’re very expressive and you can move your body and it just it feels so much better to be on stage, to be able to do that, and then to share that with my dad. It was just such a great experience,” says Smith.
Smith says directing deaf actors has come with some learning throughout the rehearsal process. She can’t call out to stop working on a scene. Instead, she needs a relay system, to be able to sign to the actors to stop. She also spends much of her time directing sitting on stage with the actors, so they can communicate faster. “They constantly have to be looking at each other,” says Smith. “Because as hearing actors, we can go on stage and we can talk to somebody over our shoulder, or we can turn our backs to somebody and we can speak and they can still hear us. But them being on stage, you have to be able to put them in a spot that they’re still able to see each other.”
Brown-Waech says it’s special, being a part of a play that a deaf person could come and see any night it’s being put on. “Our everyday life is not like that. We have to go to a matinee movie if we want closed captioning, like our access to this is very limited. And if we want an interpreter? Oh, it’s. It’s a tough process to get one. And will the interpreter be skilled or not? We don’t know,” says Brown-Waech.
Smith says she’s excited to share the language she grew up with, with audiences, and hopes it inspires more works, that everyone can enjoy. “I guess that’s the dream. That’s the just being able to have deaf people come in and experience theater the way I do, the way everybody else does,” says Smith.
“Bury Me” runs May 16-18 and 23-25 at Starlighters II Theatre in Anamosa.
Fri-Sat shows are at 7:30pm and Sunday shows are at 2:00pm. You can find information on tickets here.
Copyright 2025 KCRG. All rights reserved.