Sometimes you have to go through Hell to find your Bliss.
Clerc’s Inferno is a ferocious and funny exploration of the roots of Sign Language through an unlikely friendship and a forbidden romance — a story about how hard it can be to follow your inner voice.
TEASER:
AWARD-WINNING SHORT DOCUMENTARY:
Story Summary.
When Laurent Clerc arrives in America in 1816, as an educated deaf man, he is an anomaly and a curiosity; nevertheless, he is determined to make a name for himself. With toil and persistence, he and his hearing friend, Reverend Thomas Gallaudet, build a revolutionary school for the Deaf and gain national attention. Their entire enterprise is on track for expansion when Clerc announces his engagement to a deaf woman and brings it all to the brink of collapse. It becomes clear that he must decide between his marriage and the fate of the school.
Based on a true story.
Though virtually unknown to the hearing population, Laurent Clerc is beloved in Deaf communities around the world and referred to as, “Father of the Deaf”. Clerc’s Inferno explores universal themes of alienation, identity, and self.
The audience experiences the ferocious, often humorous arc of the play via British Sign Language, rich pictorial visual vernacular, spoken English, and French by a Deaf and hearing cast and a supporting chorus of shadow puppets.
Development history
July 2023 at National Theatre Studios
Funded by the National Theatre's Generate Programme, Arts Council England and the Weiner Foundation, Dreamatorium partnered with DH Ensemble to run an R&D with a focus on the visual elements of the play — puppetry, video projections and creative captioning.
August 2019 at Bush Theatre / March 2019 at Etcetera + Lion & Unicorn
Supported by ACE and the Weiner Foundation, Clerc's Inferno had its first two London R&Ds, which resulted in the award-winning documentary about the play’s translation process, CLERC’S INFERNO: From Page to Sign.
U.S. workshops
Clerc's Inferno (as Movements of the Soul) had extensive development in New York City with workshops supported by HERE Arts Center, New York Theatre Workshop (RENT, ONCE), Baruch Arts Center, the Wiener Philanthropy Fund, and the Emily Rechnitz Family Fund. CI has also been supported by Gallaudet University, LaGuardia Community College ASL-English program and Deaf studies, Lexington School for the Deaf, and Shakespeare & Co. in Lenox, Massachusetts.
PRAISE
“It is an amazing, awe-inspiring, mammoth work... your play is about hope, freedom, identity, understanding, bridging worlds, connection...”
—Kelly Masterson
writer SNOW PIERCER,
BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD
writer SNOW PIERCER,
BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD
“This play could win a Pulitzer Prize as well as a Tony.”
—Dan Lauria
Lombardi in Broadway’s LOMBARDI
Dad on THE WONDER YEARS
Financial supporter of Clerc’s Inferno
Lombardi in Broadway’s LOMBARDI
Dad on THE WONDER YEARS
Financial supporter of Clerc’s Inferno
“I truly enjoyed your play and found the premise fascinating. A complicated effort, well done.”
—David Platt
Co-exec producer LAW & ORDER SVU (2008-2010)
Financial supporter of Clerc’s Inferno
Co-exec producer LAW & ORDER SVU (2008-2010)
Financial supporter of Clerc’s Inferno
"You deserve so many accolades. You have done such amazing work on our play! I am proud to be associated with it.”
—the late Jeff Ash
Broadway Producer
Co-producer of Clerc’s Inferno (in NYC)
Broadway Producer
Co-producer of Clerc’s Inferno (in NYC)
“Congratulations on a stunning achievement with Movements Of The Soul! Beautiful work!”
—Bob Jaffe
Board Chair, Ensemble Studio Theater (EST), NYC
Board Chair, Ensemble Studio Theater (EST), NYC
CORE TEAM
CAST (alphabetical)
CREATIVE
TEAM — London R&Ds
CAST: Hermon Berhane, Michael Bertenshaw, Natalia Campbell, Stephen Collins, Erin Hutching, Naddem Islam, Alim Jadavji, Harry Jardine, Raffie Julien, Durassie Kiangangu, Zoë McWhinney, Amy Melley, Craig Painting, Caroline Parker, Julian Peedle-Calloo, Raphael Von Blumenthal.
CREATIVE: Robert Adam, Rike Berg, Nandi Bhebhe, Rosie Benn, Jennifer K. Bates, Spencer Browne, Paul Burgess, Joe Cacaci, Stephen Collins, Ailsa Dalling, Aeron Donnelly Jackson, Lawrence Elman, Ben Glover, Erin Hutching, Rodrigo Jorge, Gabriela Jorge, Thiago “Trosso” Jorge, Adam Jay-Price, Craig Leo, Lizzie Laycock, Guilherme Lepca, Nadia Nadarajah, Rachel Sampling, Carol Schneider, Hanne Schulpé, Deepa Shastri, Sophie Leigh Stone, Christopher Tester, Luna Tosin, Angelo Utrabo, Sarah Wright.
SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETERS: Susan Booth, Chris Curran, Helen Fallows, Sula Gleeson, Anna Kitson, Bill Moody, Rose Lennnon, Louise Mitcham, Lucy Okeeffe, Alison Pottinger, Caroline Richardson, Jo Ross, Sumayya Si-Tayeb, Akbar Sikder, Tobe St Clair, Natasha Trantom, Adele Ward, Bev Wilson, Kathy Yeoman.
TEAM — NYC WORKSHOPS
CAST: Frank Dattolo, Alexandria Wailes, Hilary Baack, Candace Brecker, Joe Cassidy, Thomas Dellamonica, Jordan Lage, John McGinty, Lewis Merkin, Jame Rose.
CREATIVE: Carol Schneider, Joe Cacaci, Monique Holt, Emily Comisar, Annie Wiegands.
THANKS
Past Supporters
National Theatre, Arts Council England, Emily Rechnitz, Robert Wiener & Wiener Family Foundation.
Alan Kingsberg & the Kingsberg Family Foundation, Dan Lauria, Laurie Leonard & Stephan McCarthy, George Minkoff & the Lewis & Lena Minkoff Foundation, Sandy Newman, Diane & David Platt, Suzi Randolf, Gina Deutsch-Zakarin & Mark Zakarin, John Whalan & Black Ice Mass Media.
Advisors
Marguerite Andro, Candace Broecker, Frank Dattolo, Ken Davenport, Lawrence Elman, Judith James, Bill Moody, Sandy Newman, John Whalan.
Acknowledgements
Gary Wait & The American School for the Deaf, Baruch Performing Arts Center, David Chu & C2 Captions, Gallaudet University, Paula Garfield & Deafinitely Theatre, HERE Arts Center, Robert Hills & Deaf Studies Program @ LaGuardia Community College, Lexington School for the Deaf, Library of Congress, Joe Danisi & Naked Angels, Linda Chapman & New York Theatre Workshop, Govane Lohbauer & Shakespeare & Co., Yale University Library.
Hilary Baack, Sherman Beattie, Aneta Besecker, Emily Comisar, Stephanie Cannon, Silas Carson, Joe Cassidy, Samuel Caraballo, Thomas DellaMonica, Caroline Devlin, Stephanie Feyne, Marcie Friedman, Craig Fogel, Richard Gant, Mellie Garcia, Monique Holt, Joyce Hom, Miriam Horowitz, Bob Jaffe, Stephanie Jane, Mechelle Lassiter, Guilherme Lepca, George Mann, John McGinty, Lewis Merkin, Geoffrey Nauffts, Jordan Lage, Tanya O’Brien, Ben Ringham, Jame Rose, Alan Rothstein, Claire Saddleton, Ethan Sinnott, Neil Sprouse, Brooke Tibbs, Shukree Hassan Tilghman, Lauren Vaicels, Alexandria Wailes, Jennifer Ward, Eric Webb, Annie Wiegand, Michael Wikes, Anatol Yusef.
GET INVOLVED
We are proud to be supported by organisations that champion Sign Language education.
Below you will find donation links for each of them.
You can help them make a change.
You can help them make a change.
“The British Deaf Association (BDA) is supportive of the production, Clerc’s Inferno. Since 1890, the BDA has been the UK’s leading Deaf People’s Organisation standing for Deaf Equality, Access and Freedom of Choice (DEAF). Our primary goal is to achieve a legal status for British Sign Language (BSL).”
The history behind Clerc as the first outstanding Deaf teacher in the USA who championed the rights of Deaf people to use sign language is the story of the oppression foisted upon, and experienced by Deaf people. The drama within the play foreshadows a movement by an elitist group of hearing people who promoted the Oral Method while succeeding in effectively banning the use of sign language from Deaf education. This had a significant, long-lasting and damaging effect on Deaf people’s lives as we have struggled to live our lives within a language that we are comfortable with. The BDA endorses the play which we believe will transform people’s perceptions and enable them to realise that sign language is vital to the lives of Deaf children and young people and their future.
For more information visit: bda.org.uk
“DTOD is fully supportive of the production of Clerc’s Inferno. As a group of deaf teachers we are passionate about Deaf Education and language access for deaf children, particularly through sign language, and the history behind this is so important as is portrayed in the play. For this reason, DTOD endorses the play for a full production which will appeal to so many people in both the deaf and hearing communities, as well as emphasise the importance of sign language in deaf education.”
For more information visit: deafteachers.co.uk
“Signed Culture mission is to support BSL access to the Arts, so obviously we see the importance of BSL in performance, and therefore in life itself.
We see it as vital that this production is given the support it needs and deserves, in order that the world can witness a slice of Deaf history, see how sign languages are necessary for the Deaf to truly feel free with their language use - to express themselves with accuracy, authenticity, creativity and confidence.”
For more information visit: signedculture.org.uk