Dead Centre: Deaf Republic

Dead Centre: Deaf Republic is a theater production making its North American premiere. Dublin's Dead Centre and sign language poet Zoë McWhinney adapt Ilya Kaminsky's poetic narrative: after a soldier shoots a deaf boy in an occupied town's public square, the whole town wakes up deaf, refusing to hear the soldiers and teaching one another a sign language of resistance. A deaf and hearing ensemble folds sign language, puppetry, live cinema, aerial work, and music into a single form, turning quiet itself into something political. The show, fresh from an acclaimed premiere at London's Royal Court, runs two hours with no intermission and is performed through a mix of International Sign, spoken English, and moments of creative captioning.