CLERC'S INFERNO When it becomes clear that he must decide between his “immoral” marriage to a Deaf woman and the fate of the revolutionary Deaf school he spent his life creating, Laurent Clerc takes a hellish trip down memory lane, populated by shadows he thought he’d left behind. Sometimes... finding your bliss can be hell. Based on a true story. The audience experiences the ferocious, often humorous arc of the play via American Sign Language, Langue des Signes Française, rich pictorial visual vernacular, spoken English, and French by a Deaf and hearing cast and a supporting chorus of shadow puppets. Though virtually unknown to the hearing population, Laurent Clerc is beloved in Deaf communities around the world and often referred to as, “Apostle of the Deaf”. CLERC’S INFERNO, a play in two-acts, explores universal themes of alienation, identity, and self, and looks at the ways in which the sign language native to Deaf communities has been under attack by mainstream society.
