Theatre group to premiere ‘Blank Spaces’ about love between hearing, deaf persons

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Phriscilla Ngau stars as main character Chloe.

KUCHING: Lovers of the performing arts will be thrilled to know that theatre production group, Stars Aligned Theatre, will be debuting their first production ‘Blank Spaces’ on Oct 12 and Oct 13.

‘Blank Spaces’ also has a unique twist of being performed in both English and American Sign Language (ASL), an endeavour that is intended to push creative boundaries, according to organisers.

“We hope that people will see that creativity has no limits by demonstrating that we and the deaf are no different from each other. Everyone has the potential to perform and do what they want in life as long as we try,” said a spokesperson.

The story, which features two deaf actors, begins with a chance meeting between two strangers, whose blossoming love is put to the test when communication became difficult. In a world that makes you choose between duty to ambition and duty to your heart, will they ever see eye to eye?

This first show includes members of Society for the Deaf (SSD), with two of them in acting roles.

The play will take place in a café setting. The highlight is a mixture of sign language and voice-overs throughout the show. The audience will get to see the relationship between a hearing person and a deaf person.

Phil Yong will portray main character Sam. — Photos by Syed Rusydie

Blank Spaces will star Phil Yong, Augusta Janta, Phriscilla Ngau, Yvonne Yeo, Hamazaitullah Hamazimin, Bethany Balan and Liew Zi Yu, with a special appearance by actor and television presenter Razif Hashim, who performed in last year’s interactive theatre experience ‘The Food Play’ during WAK 2018.

Stars Aligned Theatre, an experimental theatre production, was started by Ghali Foster, Jessica Yu and Kimberly Wang.

Tickets are priced at RM80 with one drink, and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to SSD. For tickets, seat and date selection, message Jessica at 010-9848192.

Stars Aligned Theatre can be found on social media under the username ‘starsalignedtheatre’.

This event is part of What About Kuching (AWK) 2019, and members of the public who wish to know more or download their calendar are kindly advised to visit aboutkuching.com. Programme booklets are available for free across Kuching.

For updates, find WAK on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter under @aboutkuching.