Sign language production of ‘James and the Giant Peach' to be performed at Lycian Centre

Sugar Loaf — Sign Stage On Tour, a company of deaf and hearing actors, will be performing Roald Dahl’s classic family story “James and the Giant Peach” at the Lycian Centre for the Performing Arts in Sugar Loaf, on Friday, March 14, with three performances at 9:45 a.m., 11:45 a.m. and 7 p.m. Sign Stage on tour’s production is a deaf theatre adaptation of the book written by Roald Dahl. The group is a specialist in sign language theatre where deaf and hearing actors perform together on stage. Whenever a character speaks, the character speaking uses sign language but patrons hear the voice regardless of where or who it comes from. The voice comes from a different actor speaking through a microphone, sometimes on-stage and sometimes off-stage. Visually, the stage is filled with the movement of hands and bodies yet every word is spoken to make sure all audience members, both deaf and hearing, don’t miss anything. It’s a blend of language created when performing a play in American sign language and English simultaneously. In this production of “James and the Giant Peach,” a young orphan named James is forced to live a miserable existence with his cruel aunts. He pretends he’s deaf so his aunts won’t think he can hear them gossip and complain. One day James meets a strange, tiny old man who teaches James sign language and gives him a bag of magic crystals. They’re supposed to make his life marvelous, but James accidentally drops the bag, scattering the contents under an old peach tree. A single peach at the top of the tree starts growing until it’s as large as a house. Seeing a hole on the side of the peach, James crawls inside where he finds the peach pit is inhabited by a peculiar group of oversized bugs. With a snip of the stem, the peach starts rolling downhill and the adventure begins. Kings Theatre Co. presents performances by Sign Stage On Tour every year for the benefit of local school groups and youth organizations and the general community. Tickets are only $15 for adults and $12 for youth (18 years and younger) and can be purchased by calling the Lycian Centre Box Office at 469-2287 Tuesday through Saturday between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. For more information about this and other upcoming events, visit www.lyciancentre.com.