The Hazard Chronicles

Biggest news this week: HAMILTON!

In 2020, I (and the rest of the world, apparently) watched this show on Disney. Multiple times. A year later I got to see it performed on a stage. Because of its place in popular culture, it seems to be the musical that will never get old. We'll see. But it is also the play that continually comes up in conversation between Rachel and me about her job and linguistics and art and the philosophical underpinnings of what it even means to "interpret" a thing. Is this play "interpretable?" The continual word play, the rhythm, the themes within themes, the speed, the unspoken emotional content, the cultural, historical and literary allusions...all of it. It's tough. And we've always come away with the answer that no- it would not be possible, in this case, to provide an ASL experience anywhere close to the hearing one. Over the course of years, this play has become THE go-to example in these conversations.

Back up though. Because Rachel has, for the past several years, focused a lot of her career precisely on performance interpreting; on music, comedy, drama, oration, and all the complexities that go with these things. She has flown across the country several times to do workshops specifically focused on this, and has taken part in countless conversations about the nuances of taking audio information- not just the words- but the whole of the information- and making it visual. She has interviewed Deaf performers and Deaf audiences, and she has exchanged feedback with some of the best stage interpreters in the country- those who work regularly in our performance capitols- Nashville and Broadway. 

And then, a couple of months ago, she gets a call. Would she like to interpret the Broadway tour of Hamilton? Um...hadn't we decided that wasn't a thing? Wasn't it impossible? Is it even worth the attempt, or do you just pass and let someone else fail instead of you? These were all the questions, but at the end of the day, it was going to be done, and who better to take the job than Rachel? (We actually have a number of highly qualified interpreters here- but I do think that Rach is good choice.) And so, with a bit of hesitancy, she said yes to what might be the most difficult assignment of her life.

She has worked non-stop on this performance. Interpreting theater is VERY different than simply providing captions to what is happening on the stage. That would be easy. And it would also be wrong. For that, it would be best to just let the audience read the script. Done. (This is actually the solution the theater in Seattle chose when they did Hamilton). But for interpreting, there is way more information that is given than just the words, and it makes for a much better and more accessible experience for the Deaf. Rachel worked with a team on this and each person took about half of the parts. It was quite the effort, but in the end I think it was great. 

The first performance was last Saturday, and the whole family went to see it. Her mom and sisters flew in to watch as well, which made for a fun weekend. According to Rachel- "It went a hundred percent as well as I ever could have hoped." She said that the entire show went by in a blur, and that she felt completely in flow the whole time- something that has never happened to her for that duration before. "It was like magic." Those who were watching her could tell too- she was completely confident and in sync with the actors and it came off great. 

She is doing it again next week, but feels much more relaxed this time around after last week went so well. Actually, she's really excited about it. That's pretty cool.

*****

Besides the play, we had a good time hanging out with Rachel's mom and sisters this weekend. We went on some walks and spent a lot of time just talking and catching up. Her sister, Shannon, stayed a little longer and we had a fun day yesterday in Spokane. 

On Sunday, after church, Addy and I went up to Schweitzer for closing day. It was a big slush party with live music and fun skiing. I got a little sunburned, which is the sign of good spring skiing, and we both cried a little bit when we took off our skis at the end. Next weekend is the closing day at Silver and we'll all go up as a family to celebrate/mourn the end of a good season.

Meanwhile, we're already transitioning to the warmer weather. The little hikes we've been taking have been lovely, and I went out the other day on a skateboard just to get back in the flow. Ev, Addy, and I walked down to one of our favorite swimming hole/cliff jumping spots and, though the river isn't high enough yet, it was easy to imagine ourselves back on the water once the dam closes up. 

Also, Ev got in a car accident the other day. Just a stupid fender bender, but it was her fault and between her and Rachel, our insurance is going to skyrocket. Ugh. Just thinking of adding two more teenagers within the year is a daunting prospect. How about we all ride around on skateboards or something instead, and just call Ubers when needed? Seriously.

Okay- here are some pictures. Have a good week!

She knocked it off about 1/4 of the way up a long lift line. There was plenty of good heckling from above as she made her way back down to it. But heckling is good- it means that she did well enough on one ski that nobody felt sorry for her- it was just funny :)

The Pentagon is always a treat

And so is Arbor Crest- one our our favorite places to visit

I'm still a little unclear where these PJs came from, but they're cute. Especially Jack. Totes adorbs