SOCIAL MEDIA

(VD: a black screen, female soprano voice singing "I want to look like a bird" with a single drum beat [lyrics on the bottom]. Cut to Wise Woman Psyche, a Black woman wearing a sky blue dress, long wavy blue colored hair, standing in a forest. She narrates with gestures "And so it was, beneath the shade of their trusted tree–" The screen cuts to black, another single drum beat, "I want to look like a bird." Cut to Mother Psyche, a white woman with red hair, tattoos, wears a purple puffy blouse and a leaf crown. She narrates with gestures "Their treasonous tree." with a pained look on her face, breathing heavily. Screen cuts to black, woman sings "Like the tree grew for standing," with two drum beats. The Child Psyche fades in, a white woman with curly hair, sits in a dark, candle-lit void, reaching with worry towards the camera. The screen cuts to black, the woman sings (with drum beats) "And it stands for me." Cut to the King, a white man with ginger hair, beard, and a crown, who fights for his life wearing armor and battle clothing, grimacing and swinging his axe on a grassy field. He falls, but just before swinging at his opponent. The camera tilts and falls, then the screen goes black. The woman sings with drum beats, "Like the tree grows branches." A man's hand is shown slowly picking up his axe, which sits up against a tree. The camera is at a 45º angle. The woman sings "And they stand for me." A close up shot of a woman's hand is shown revealing her dagger, then grips her weapon in front of herself, wearing a navy dress, as she stands in the forest. Cuts to the King, running for his life in the woods, panting with fear. Cuts to a blue-toned shot of the Maiden, a Latina woman with black wavy hair, hoop earrings and a lacy, white dress with dirt stains. She looks confused and uncertain. Screen cuts to black. [pulsing drum beats] A starry night sky background fades in with white text that reads "The Program in Educational Theatre at NYU Steinhardt presents." The full music starts to play. The flute, synthesizer, and drum beats join together for "Look Like a Bird." Shown are the Maidens. The left Maiden [Anjel] gestures and signs the song in the woods, and the right Maiden [Lara] performs an interpretive dance while kneeling in front of the treasonous tree. She looks at her fists in anguish, extending them, then cowering with fear as she brings them back in to her chest. She beats her fist into her hand on beat with an expression of upset, nearly crying. She rubs her hand in the dirt, attempting to emotionally ground herself, then wipes the dirt onto her lacy white dress, then runs her hands through her hair, looking up at the sky, in pain. The screen fades to black, then fades to a starry night sky background with white text that reads "HERE, ALL DWELL FREE." The drums and synthesizer continue. The woman sings "I want to look like a bird / bird, like I know my place in the world." The Maiden, distressed, trips on the ground, then gets up and runs into the distance, away from the dirt path and into the plains. Screen fades to black, then the woman sings acapella "Like I know my place in the world." Text appears on the screen reads "HERE ALL DWELL FREE STREAMING NOW FOR A LIMITED TIME" End of music and video.)

(VD: a recording of one of our rehearsals held on Zoom. On the screen are actors Amanda and Mark, with director Maya and interpreter Jared. Maya says “Greek Chorus, you can come in and do your reporters bit.” One by one, actors turn on their zoom cameras and perform the reporters’ scene, with props such as cell phones, notepads and pens, and cameras, acting like an excited group of paparazzi. Maya says “And Mark, during this, you can kind of look around, but also be excited.” The reporters’ sequence finishes and Maya says “Great!” with a thumbs up. One by one, the Greek Chorus exits. Maya says, “And now, we’re gonna go into the song…and pop back on for the song,” she smiles. One by one, Greek Chorus members turn their cameras on with new costumes on, props tucked away. “Whenever you’re ready, Olivia.” Olivia nods, signs “READY” and begins to lead the Greek Chorus in song. She signs, “5, 6, 7, 8” and begins the song.

“Come with me down to the river…” Stelle joins in, gesturing on beat.

“Let me drown away your sin…” Annelise joins, gesturing on beat. Maya signs to Mark to look around, as that will be his filming direction during this song. Amanda looks around as at the Greek Chorus as well.

“Come with me down to the river…” Lily and Erin join, gesturing on beat.

The Greek Chorus all gesture together “Let the Holy Spirit in” they all dance as Amanda gestures the next verse:

“Drink just a little bit more / Baptize you like the Lord / You don’t even know how to cleanse your soul / Baby, let me show you the fire down below” Mark reacts, the GC dances. Maya gives a thumbs up and signs “HOLD” the group respond with “HOLD” and pause

Jared pops on screen. “Great, let’s see Olivia and Mark on camera for the sunglasses,” says Maya. Only Jared, May, Olivia, and Mark are on screen. “READY?” signs Olivia. They start the scene.

Olivia starts dancing with her sunglasses on. “So Mark, you’re just gonna receive them [points to the top] mhm.” Olivia dances, greets Mark, then “passes” the sunglasses to Mark, from the bottom of her screen to the top of his. Mark smiles and puts on his pretend sunglasses. Maya gives a thumbs up and the “Perfect” sign, then says “perfect. Let’s have Lily pop on–oh sorry, not Lily, Erin pop on and feed Mark some candy,”

Erin appears on screen and presents a small crystal glass container. She opens it and pretends to feed Mark candy, passing candy to her right. Mark wonders which direction to face, and asks “From where?” Maya answers “From the left” then signing and saying “no no no no! Right.” Mark understands and shifts to his right to “eat” the candy. Maya laughs and says “perfect. And last one with Mark. Stelle, can you show Mark your lamp?” Maya also signs to Mark, “NOW your left.”

Stelle presents a medium sized gold plated lamp. It has a round base with a skinny neck and a small, long handle and opening. Mark reaches to his left to “rub” the lamp, and Stelle uses their hand to pose as Mark’s hand. The group laughs, and Maya signs and says, “Perfect.” Mark signs “WHEW.” End of video.)

(VD: A black screen with white text reads “Describe your process on coming up with character name signs”

Norah Matthews sits in front of a plain blue background wearing a teal shirt, a black button-down blouse, with teal and silver dangling earrings and a silver necklace of silver circles. She is also wearing a few silver rings and a ponytail on her wrist. She has her long, light brown hair styled half up, half down, and is wearing some makeup. Norah is signing in ASL, and there are white closed captions in English on the bottom of the screen. Her message is as follows:

“But the character name signs? Whew. At first I left it up to the Deaf actors, if their character was Deaf and you are Deaf, then they can come up with a character name sign on their own so we came up with The Maiden name sign (open 5 hand with thumb touching chest like “fine” hand closes up and twist into “expression”) and Miller name sign (bent L hand with point finger touching forehead becomes similar to “arrogant”). Personally I love creating name signs. I always come up with good, unique name signs, and I always like to avoid doing the same thing and go for variety. I like relating it to the story, and it has to be bigger . Maiden [name sign] was created by Anjel and I -- we spent 2 weeks collaborating and finally picked [name sign]. We decided on this: [open palm down thumb in chest] she had hands, [closed fist in chest] she did not have hands anymore, which forced her to close up and be silent...actually let me back up a little bit…

One of the big things in “The Handless Maiden (Here All Dwell Free)” is how the main character parallels a bit with the Deaf community, and this feeling of not being able to have their own voice, not being able to be independent...people will look [at us] and think we’re helpless, but truly we are very independent, very strong, very resilient. So the “handlessness” represents ASL history of trying to abolish sign, even eliminate it, and all that. It’s a whole thing with AG Bell and all that. There’s a lot of parallelism between the oppression of sign and the handless Maiden. When we first started the process, we wanted to decide how to show the Maiden’s “handlessness” and how to have a Deaf actor perform with “no hands,” how they communicate using facial expressions. We decided to wait until we started the audition process. To see who we have to choose from to be our potential Maiden. We connect the two, Anjel and Lara, who are both amazing. Both had great effort, very involved and engaged. Amy and I were going back and forth about who to choose and what that would look like. The idea of twins was brought up, having both of them together, one twin hearing, one twin Deaf. We discussed the idea of a psyche of the mind. We discussed a lot, and then decided to give the Maiden an inner voice, like a “voice inside her head…” her inner consciousness. She would interact with the psyches. The idea went off well. Anjel and Lara were a good match, a good combination. Anyways, I’m going off the point.

Back to name signs. My big struggle was with “Miller’s” name sign. We originally had someone else as the Miller [originally JW]. His name was “Miller” (name sign big beard drop). We had to reassign, and JW became the King. We debated if we should keep him as Miller too. Then we decided no. So when we got the new actor [Mark], he was clean shaven. I asked him, “Can you grow a beard?” He said “No,” so we had to say no to the original name sign. We were scrambling, “Can we find a fake beard?” Then I asked Mark, “What’s your framing and perspective on the Miller?” I did some explaining, he sat on it...Mark told me, “The Miller thinks he’s doing the right thing, but he’s not. He’s arrogant, kind of egotistical, thinking of himself and thinks of others later, not first (or second). Just focus on himself and go with things. He’s innocent but really should know better.” So we played with the idea of “Devil’s sign name,” arrogant, egotistical, big-headed…” Miller (sign name)... it just came to me, one time I was thinking and playing around... and then *gasp* YES! It fits. That was a really tough name sign process, with all that thinking. I was racking my brain over ALL these name signs, like “You need one? Ok. You still need one? Ok. Omg everyone needs a name sign AHH!!” I sent them out I think 1-2 weeks later, you were all waiting for me, “please please wait I’m thinking!!” I had to have a discussion with Amy...and then the Miller name sign was all set. It was a good choice. I’m really proud of Miller and Maiden.”

A black screen with white text reads “THANK YOU NORAH!” New white text appears on the black screen, green text highlighting the show, as it reads “Here, All Dwell Free is open for on-demand streaming from June 3-7. Register for your FREE ticket and stream NOW!”

End of video.)

(VD: 1:10 minute video with the some "Raise Hell" from the show, echoing hauntingly in the background. Snippets of the Psyches briefly describing the Maiden's journey are shown. The Miller confronts the Maiden, who’s scared and pushed up against the tree. Her aura, inner Maiden, walks toward the camera. Cut to the inner Maiden, singing with fury and passion; the Handless Maiden dances, struggling but pushing, facing nature, raising hell. Cut to the Greek chorus, Devil, and Miller, who dance in their desires and new riches. Hands with written words chant “If I was you, I’d wanna be me, too.” Cut to the King, bracing for battle and fighting with his trusty axe [POV camera]. He slashes, tumbles, then sliced his opponent. The messenger, waving an important scroll, runs frantically across the battlefield. Back to the Miller, who’s celebrating his new wealth with the Greek Chorus, who celebrates him. Returning to the Maidens, one expressing, one dancing, are more at ease and come to terms with their environment and state of mind, a bit more exhausted, but also a bit wiser. The Here All Dwell Free logo appears [waterfall scene with green hands as trees, the Maiden sits on the rock] yellow text reading “coming June 3rd.” A black screen with white text “Get your free tickets and find more information at our website” with the site link.)

(VD: a 30-second video recording of a dress rehearsal held on Zoom. Everyone performs a greek chorus scene, then Maya signs “HOLD,” and one by one, each cast member pauses their performance and signs “HOLD,” the rehearsal pauses and Maya is about to give a reminder. The video blurs and transitions to another zoom rehearsal, this time it’s song translation practice with Norah. JW signs “READY” and nearly all cast members respond with “READY.” JW continues to sign “READY” until all members have responded, and then begin the song.)

(VD: A black screen with white text reads “Why should I see Here, All Dwell Free?”

Norah Matthews sits in front of a plain blue background wearing a teal shirt, a black button-down blouse, with teal and silver dangling earrings and a silver necklace of silver circles. She is also wearing a few silver rings and a ponytail on her wrist. She has her long, light brown hair styled half up, half down, and is wearing some makeup. She is signing in ASL, and there are white English captions on the bottom of the screen. Her message is as follows:

“Because it’s...whew. It’s the type of play, if you believe in feminism, if you believe in anti-audism, if you believe in equality for all, and have shared experiences, then you should watch this show. This is a show that will make you think, it will make you reframe and discover what it means to reconnect with your past, what it means to connect with your roots, with who you are as a person, your personal journey..because a lot of this show discusses personal journey, growth, struggles, possibilities, perseverance….a lot of these themes align with what’s happening right now with the pandemic. Even Though, people are getting vaccinated (my second shot is tomorrow! Might mean I spend saturday in bed, who knows). The pandemic really forced many people to look inward and face the reality of our mental health’s real state, what it really looks like. We tend to stay invested in our everyday lives. We have to notice what’s happening internally with our mental health. But we avoid and ignore it. And then the pandemic happened, and it really hit us. We had to take it, evaluate, think about it, go on that journey. I do feel like people will come out of the pandemic as better human being, better people. Definitely for me, I feel, after experiencing the before and aftermath of COVID-19, I feel more real, more me, more “Ok, my masking behavior and habits need to stop. It’s time to stop that. It’s time to be authentic, it’s time to be honest, and real, and aware, to see the world.” It’s a nice parallel with this show. It’s a real journey of “you thought this was ok but it was wrong,” and that progression, that change. It’s nice to see that journey and feel the parallel [of our lives]..connecting with the past, connecting with roots, connect with nature. The Wild Woman who is very expressive, has a fire burning within.. “Where’s that fire, where’s that spark, where’s that grit?” It unleashes. Resilient , persistence...that’s why people should watch. There’s a striking parallel.

If you’re a feminist, if you want to connect with your personhood, to heal your mother wound, to connect with your wild side, connect with that part of you...if you want to see a show created to be accessible for all, then this show is definitely for you to watch. It will make you think, it’s not easy or fluffy or light. It’s meant for you to hone in. There’s a lot of metaphors, a lot of connection. You will recognize the metaphors and make connections. It’s a parallel of reality, of how we need to evaluate ourselves, bring out our wild sides, our roots. At one time, people walked barefoot and now no one can walk outside without shoes. For us now, where’s that wild side? Basically, if you want to see that parallel, watch a story about transformation, journey, identity, about healing, a really important theme in our show. Healing...that last line “to watch over the souls’ journeys in these dark and wild woods” [DARK WILD TREE (SOUL HESITANT) SPIRIT (FOLLOW AT A DISTANCE)] That healing, that intent to hold and cherish unifies people.”

A black screen with white text reads “THANK YOU NORAH!” New white text appears on the black screen, green text highlighting the show, as it reads “Here, All Dwell Free opens on June 3rd. Register for your FREE ticket today!”

End of video.)

(VD: Gesture name signs video thumbnail: Courage sitting in front of a green background, smiling.)

(V1: Stelle stands in front of a gray wall wearing a charcoal t-shirt and button down shirt on top. Stelle shows their gesture name. Their left fist is closed and swings down in a back and forth motion)

(V2: Amanda stands in front of her window wearing a dark floral top and a necklace. She signs “Hello! I’m Amanda” and signs her gesture name. She brushes her cheek, palm open and facing up)

(V3: Lara sits in her home wearing a light blue blouse and a gold necklace with her hair in a ponytail. She signs her gesture name with a closed fist and her pointer finger and thumb touching. She motions across her mouth and smiles. Lara waves)

(V5: Mark sits in front of a black backdrop wearing a navy blue shirt and his glasses. He gestures his name using his right hand, palm facing down, fist open then closed as he moves his hand from his forehead to his ear.)

(V5: Lily stands in her home wearing a black floral top. She signs “My name…” then shows her gesture name, which is her palm facing down, knuckles bent, wrist in a side to side motion near her neck.)

(V6: Alex is sitting on his porch wearing an orange shirt. He signs his gesture name with a closed fist, pointer finger and thumb bent. He waves it sideways like strumming a guitar)

(V7: Joyelle records in her bathroom wearing a green tank top and her smartwatch. She signs, “Hi! My gesture name is…” then signs her gesture name twice, which is her right pointer finger pointed up near her head, twirling down, much like her long curly hair. She smiles and waves)

(V8: Courage sits in front of a green backdrop wearing a gray graphic t-shirt and short curly brown hair with pink-dyed ends. “I sign…” then she shows her gesture name, which is an open palm facing down moving diagonally across. “I love panthers.” She signs her gesture name again)

(V9: Olivia stands in front of a gray wall wearing a bright orange tie-dye shirt with the band name “Journey” and “Tour 81” written on it. She says “Hi! My gesture name is…” Her left hand is in an open C-shape, with her thumb starting on her left cheek and circling out. She signs her gesture name three times, smiles, and waves.)