Book Review

Title: Deaf Side Story: Deaf Sharks, Hearing Jets, and a Classic American Musical
Author: Mark Rigney 
Publisher: Gallaudet University Press
Cost: $19.95 US paperback
ISBN:  1-56368-145-5
Reviewer:  Alex Lubet

  Deaf Side Story chronicles a 2000 production of West Side Story at MacMurray College in 
Jacksonville, Illinois.  The rival youth gangs were portrayed by hearing students from ÒMacÓ and 
deaf high schoolers from JacksonvilleÕs Illinois School for the Deaf.  

  Rigney is a playwright and it shows.  He knows much about theatre and is a compelling storyteller.  
Unfortunately, as a case study in Theatre and Deaf Education, the book comes up short.
  Rigney never reveals how he was able to provide a seemingly eyewitness account of a production 
whose book-worthiness would have been apparent only in its late stages.  Rigney was likely not 
present at all, relying on the account of director Diane Brewer who now lives, like Rigney, in 
Evansville, Indiana.  Lack of balanced perspective is worsened by non-disclosure of method.

  Rigney knows no sign language, but claims to have represented Deaf culture as well as any hearing 
person could.  I disagree.  He vividly portrays many ÒHearies,Ó but almost no Deaf personnel.  He 
renders Jacksonville drably Midwestern, a perspective native ÒFlat-landersÓ and ÒHeariesÓ like 
myself will recognize.  But with its large Deaf school and Deaf community, and MacÕs prestigious 
Deaf Education program, Jacksonville might appear to Deaf readers like Mecca on the prairie.

  Rigney seems to laud pro-Deaf director BrewerÕs rejection of the suggestion that a bass drum be 
used to assist Deaf dancers as a ÒcrutchÓ that would reflect badly upon them.  In reality, this device 
is used by the Gallaudet University Dance Company (Hottendorf & Gill-Doleac, 2003).  The 
suggestion Brewer nixed almost certainly came from a Deaf member of the production team, 
although s/he is never identified.

  Much of the drama of RigneyÕs tale revolves around the many cast members, who dropped out 
throughout the production.  These are young people, largely minors, some apparently quite 
vulnerable.  Rigney impugns these and others mercilessly, using their real names when permissions 
could be obtained.  Comparable ethnographies of schools (Nettl, 1995; Kingsbury, 1988) protect 
even the names and locations of their institutions.

  RigneyÕs descriptions of music range from muddled to incorrect.  His transcriptions of e-mails of a 
Deaf production team member whose English is imperfect are inadequately contextualized and 
unempathic.

  Deaf Side Story is intended for students of theatre and Disability Studies.  It is mostly an easy 
Òread,Ó although issues of theatrical production and Deaf Culture present challenges.  Scholars of 
Deaf Culture will find it disappointing in ways others may not notice.

  Deaf Side Story needs to be read with a background in Deaf Studies and a dose of skepticism.  
There is a revival of Roger MillerÕs musical, Big River, in an ASL/English production currently 
running on Broadway and on tour.  Perhaps from that a truly distinguished chronicle of an 
ASL/English musical production will finally be written.

Alex Lubet, Ph.D., is Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of Music, American Studies, 
and Jewish Studies at the University of Minnesota.  A musician, theatre artist, and educator, he has 
written on numerous aspects of disability studies in music and is currently completing a monograph 
entitled Crip Notes: Towards a Disability Studies of Music.  Contact him at lubet001@umn.edu or 
School of Music, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455.

References

Hottendorf, Diane & Susan Gill-Doeac (2003, November 18).  Dance Techniques for Deaf and Hard 
of Hearing Dancers.  The Gallaudet Dance Company, Gallaudet University.  Retrieved July 
8, 2003, from http://depts.gallaudet.edu/dance/techniques.html.

Kingsbury, Henry (1988).  Music, Talent, and Performance:  A Conservatory Cultural System.  
Philadelphia:  Temple University Press.

Nettl, Bruno (1995). Heartland Excursions:  Ethnomusicological Reflections on Schools of Music.  
Urbana, IL:  University of Illinois Press.