Switched at Birth is a show created by ABC family where 2 teenage girls find out they were switched at birth. One girl is deaf while the other is not. It is about these two families coming together to make it work so they can learn about one another.
The cast includes: Katie LeClerc, Vanessa Marano, Lea Thompson, Constance Marie, D.W Moffett, Lucas Grabeel, Sean Berdy, and Marlee Matlin.
It is the first show of its kind to include 2 deaf characters within its cast, and to tackle the issue of the hearing and non hearing world.
Over the past weekend I was invited to attend an event in Downtown Disney by a friend. The event entitled, “Signin’ in the Streets” included Q & A’s by the Switched at Birth cast members, Drum Cafe, Two movie screenings of, “The Hammer” and “See What I’m Saying”. The Hammer is a biopic based on the life of triple NCAA champ Matt Hamill. He was also present at the event. “See What I’m Saying,” is a multi award winning documentary. There were also various performances throughout the weekend with autograph signings from the cast of Switched at Birth, and on Sunday Marlee Matlin and Sean Berdy were present to sign autographs of their books.
The above picture was from the opening act of Signin’ in the Streets where drummers took to the stage to entertain. It was fun watching how animated the drummers were. The two in the middle of the stage were the hosts for the day, and they signed throughout the entire show.
The entire cast of Switched at Birth on stage together during the opening act. Later on they broke it into two sessions. A Q & A with the adult actors, and then a Q & A with the teenage actors.
The adult actors from Switched at Birth: Constance Marie, Lea Thompson, D.W Moffett, and Marlee Matlin.
The thing I truly took away from the Q & A session was how beautiful Marlee Matlin’s words are. How the entire cast is truly learning how to sign, and D.W Moffett is a funny guy! Oh, and Lea Thompson was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota so I’ve connected to her even more 😉
The other thing is this, Sign Language is an extremely beautiful language, and it was amazing watching everyone use it in front of me this day. There’s a part of me that does want to learn how to sign, but I’m so afraid I’d get frustrated in the process, nor do I even know where to begin.
The teen cast from Switched at Birth: Vanessa Marano, Katie LeClerc, Lucas Grabeel, and Sean Berdy.
The other part of this whole day was watching the interpreters. They are so animated when they sign, and truly make it look easy. They had interpreters for the audience in the rear, interpreters on stage that spoke for the signers, and even an interpreter that stood next to Marlee Matlin to read what she was signing right there.
I just enjoyed observing what was happening around me, and gave me an entirely new perspective on the deaf community.
And, it was a fun event, although confusing because no one really knew what was going on with events, or timing of schedules. That was truly the only downfall of the day.
