Children Of A Lesser God

Description: Written in the late 1970s and debuting on Broadway in 1980, CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD began as Mark Medoff's response to actress Phyllis Frelich's comment that few plays portrayed deaf and hearing-impaired people in a realistic manner. The resulting play shattered stereotypes and, in a very real sense, changed the way that society in general regarded people with hearing disabilities.

The story centers on the relationship between hearing James Leeds and deaf Sarah Norman, the former a teacher, the later a defiant woman who declines to communicate in any way other than sign language. Initial hostility turns into an affair; the affair turns into a marriage--but in the wake of the marriage the couple is repeatedly torn between the deaf and hearing worlds and Sarah's sudden determination that no one shall speak for her but herself.

CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD, which won an arm-load of Tony Awards, was among the very few non-musical plays that toured extensively in the 1980s. I myself had the opportunity to see one such tour and was startled when a group seated near me walked out on the show. "I thought this was going to be a play about those dear little deaf children!" a woman in the group loudly complained. No, it isn't, and after seeing or reading it you will find it difficult to think about people with hearing disabilities--or any other disability for that matter--in quite the same way. It is powerful stuff.

Many non-theatre people find playscripts difficult to read, and in truth playscripts are a blueprint for directors and actors and not intended as reading material for the general public. This is preface to the very basic statement that some plays "read" well and some do not. I must note that many readers may find it difficult to imagine how it is staged and how the sign language and various translation modes work on stage. It will be a bit of a challenge to some, but even so I strongly recommend it.