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[an error occurred while processing this directive] (none) Signed performances By Maggie McGehee Ashland Daily Tidings They never appear on the stage, but they are the focus of their audience. They never speak a word, but they deliver the lines of every character. They are not actors, technicians or directors, but for their audience, the show cannot go on without them. They are the signers, interpreting the play through sign language for the hearing-impaired members of the audience. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival has seven professional sign language interpreters, Dottie Rundles is one of them. Rundles has been interpreting for most of her life, and works in Portland as a legal interpreter for the deaf and hearing impaired. She and another interpreter stand at the front of the stage, on the left side of the theater, just barely in the light. They are almost actors in what they do, giving the dramatic facial expressions to emphasize what is being said on stage behind them. "In order to be able to do something like this, you have to be a bit of an actor yourself," Rundles said. And though the interpreters may seem like actors to those that watch and rely upon them, they don't memorize the entire script as the actors do. Instead, they rely on audio cues from the actors, and use their familiarity of the script to keep an almost perfect pace with the actors. In preparing to sign a performance, the signers study the script, repeatedly watch a taped performance, watch a few live performances and spend countless hours rehearsing. However the interpreters don't rehearse with the actors. Rundles said the reason is because most of the interpreters don't live in Ashland, and only come in for the weekend of the signed performance. Like the actors, however, the interpreters have specific roles in the performance. But instead of playing a single role, they have several. Working together, the pair alternate through the dialogue, using symbols for the names of the characters to indicate who is speaking. One of the biggest challenge for the signers is the Shakespearean language, according to Rundles. "If I spent my whole life interpreting Shakespeare, I never could do it," she said. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival offers four signed performances each year, but that may soon change, according to Mark Mezadourian Hughes, the audience services manager. "We're in a transition of expanding to really encompass a whole new audience," he said. Earlier this season, signed performances were available for "The Man Who Came to Dinner" and "The Night of the Iguana." Later this season, signed performances are available for "Twelfth Night" on September 29 and for "Henry V" on September 30. [an error occurred while processing this directive] (none) [an error occurred while processing this directive] (none) [an error occurred while processing this directive] (none) Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2000 Lee Northwest Publishing