‘Flying Words Project’ Portrays World of the Deaf

The Ithaca College Sign Language Club will present "Flying Words Project" --- a performance of stories and poems in American Sign Language by performing artist Peter Cook and his collaborator Kenny Lerner --- on Wednesday, March 28, at 7:00 p.m. in the Emerson Suites, Phillips Hall. The event, which is accessible to both hearing and deaf audiences, is free and open to the public.

Cook, who has been deaf since age three, incorporates American Sign Language and an impressive vocabulary of body language to "tell" stories that can range from a gentle parody of life in California to a politically charged piece about the murder of El Salvadoran archbishop Oscar Romero. Lerner, Cook’s hearing partner, vocally interprets the movements in a spare and lyrical manner, providing the hearing world a voice to Cook’s thoughts.

"Flying Words Project is one of the most amazing displays of eloquence in motion you’ll ever see," wrote a critic in the Edmonton Bullet magazine. "The presentation is simple --- just a couple of ordinary-looking guys on stage combining the spoken word, sign language, and motion to communicate in great depth the world of the deaf to everyone, whether they hear it or not. It’s as though the gulf between the hearing and the deaf disappears."

Cook was recently featured at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesboro, Tennessee. Lerner teaches history to deaf students at the Rochester Institute of Technology. He and Cook began collaborating on Flying Words Project in 1984. They have performed worldwide, including venues in New York City and Paris.

Their visit is sponsored by the Departments of English and Writing, Diversity Awareness Committee, Offices of Multicultural Affairs and Affirmative Action, Roy H. Park School of Communications, Residence Hall Association, Student Activities Board, and Student Government Association.

For more information call Andrew Brandon ’01, president of the Ithaca College Sign Language Club, at 256-7923.