The Zoom frame has forced us all into a head-and-shoulders world. We need to inhabit this frame in a more engaging way.
This is the frame that sign language exists in.
I have been a fan of Marlee Matlin since her breakout role in CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD (1986). Recently, I watched CODA (2021) in which Marlee plays opposite incredible Deaf actor Troy Kotsur. It is an English language adaption of the French original LA FAMILLE BÉLIER (2014).
Gestural language, the language of the body, makes us more interesting actors — allowing our hands to enter the frame, using the environment and the vista around us to create and energize our existence in space, making strong architectural offers on the screen...
Why am I passionate about sign language? Because I have seen it give such beautiful insights into the embodiment of text and thought.
My very first acting-coaching job was on a TV series called STRANGERS (1988) starring Sonia Pivac, a Deaf 8-year-old. Sonia proved to be an astonishing young a…