Deaf Actors come together to Protest against a miniseries called THE STAND

Henry Zaga as Nick Andros

A protest statement has been released that was signed by many deaf actors. The 70 70 signatories are against the casting of a hearing actor to play a Deaf character on the new CBS All Access limited series The Stand. The series is based on the Stephen King novel of the same name. The statement reads in part: 

We will not endorse, watch, or support your miniseries on CBS All Access. We will share our displeasure of the casting decision and airing of the miniseries on CBS All Access with our Deaf community, signing community, friends, and family of Deaf individuals; together we make up 466 million worldwide.

The letter says "not one Deaf professional actor was called in to audition for the role" of the deaf character." Deaf Austin posted more:

Here is the trailer for the CBS miniseries:

A Bennett Song Holiday

A new video is out today that features five deaf actors who use ASL throughout the film. In A Bennett Song Holiday a family learns the true meaning of the holidays as they solve a community crisis and adapt to big changes. Mrs. Bennett is expecting her first child--to go along with 14 adopted children. Meanwhile, they team up to take on a powerful real estate developer who is threatening to close down their uncle’s community center. Its a sequal to the family romantic comedy Bennett’s Song. Below is the trailer.

Train Gone Sorry now streaming

Train Gone Sorry is an ASL web series put together by Matt Ott. It is about an aspiring deaf performer in New York City who is working on his relationship with hearing-abled Jess. Train Gone Sorry stars JW Guido and Jacqueline Keeley. It is streaming on Amazon Prime, YouTube and Vimeo. More information here. 

The Making of ‘Deaf U'” panel

Gallaudet University organized a panel to talk about “The Making of ‘Deaf U'” on Tuesday. Watch it below and read more about the video gathering from Variety here.

Here's Where the Cast of Deaf U Is Now

If you have watched Deaf U and are wondering what has become of the cast since the taping of the eight episodes, O, The Oprah Magazine, has the answers here. The Netflix show debuted today and is set at Gallaudet University.

“Deaf U” is available

The Netflix series “Deaf U” is now available for viewing. The reality show follows several Gallaudet University students, all of whom are deaf or hard of hearing. Each of the eight episodes are about 20 minutes long. Actor, model and deaf-rights activity Nyle DiMarco is executive-producer. The Guardian spoke with him about the show here. Here is a Netlflix video where students talk about sign names--including President Trump’s sign name.

Watch the Presidential Debate in ASL

The first debate between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden takes place this evening (Tues., Sept. 29) starting at 9 pm, Eastern at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. Fox News anchor Chris Wallace is the moderator. Watch it live in ASL on the DPAN.tv Facebook page and the DPAN website.  DPAN stands for Deaf Professional Artists Network. It was founded by Sean Forbes and Joel Martin to support deaf and hard-of-hearing performers.

On this date... 29 years ago

On Sept 26, 1991, a major TV show debuted that—for the first time—featured a deaf or hard of hearing actor in a lead role. The NBC police drama Reasonable Doubts ran from 1991–1993 and starred Academy-Award winner Marlee Matlin as Tess Kaufman, a prosecutor who fought for the rights of the accused. She portrayed a lawyer who happened to be deaf—instead of just a deaf lawyer. In 1994, she joined the cast of Picket Fences for a couple of seasons. The Seinfeld TV show made a nod to Reasonable Doubts during an episode called The Pitch. When Jerry and George visit NBC they sit under a poster showing Mark Harmon and Marlee Matlin was on the wall of Seinfeld episode.

Deaf U Trailer

Back in July we told you abot a new Netflix documentary called Deaf U that debuts on Oct. 9. Netflix has just released a new trailer for the show.

Deaf U on Netflix

Deaf U will debut on Netflix three weeks from today (Oct. 9). It is part of a series called 7 Incredible Real Stories The docuseries follows Gallaudet students through their daily life. Here is the trailer:

Change to Netflix playback coming

The National Association of the Deaf is applauding Netflix for its plan to allow users to speed up or slow down videos. The feature will also slowdown captions which would help people who might prefer the captions at a slightly slower speed.  Read more about the change here.

A drama based on DPN!

A drama is planned based on the book

Deaf President Now! The 1988 Revolution at Gallaudet University. The book, written by John Christiansen and Sharon Barnartt, tells the story of what happened the week of protests at Gallaudet when the students and supporters rallied for eight days around the cry for the school to have a deaf president. The untitled show is an effort from Concordia Studio backed by Nyle DiMarco.

Marlee Matlin Implores Hiring of More Deaf Actors

Academy Award winner Marlee Matlin is working to recognize the talents of deaf and disabled actors as they struggle for work in Hollywood. She talks about it in this New York Times video.

Nyle DiMarco is getting his own comedy show

from Nyle DiMarco's Instragram

Nyle DiMarco will play a "charismatic, street-smart deaf man" in a new comedy series. The model, deaf activist, and TV star tweeted about it recently: 

Nyle DiMarco

@NyleDiMarco

if i told my younger self that i would eventually have my own series about Deaf culture, i wouldn’t believe it. deaf people leading in a series about deaf culture? not possible! this is huge for me... thank you all

DiMarco has also revealed that he has potentially been exposed to the coronavirus. He has experienced a fever, chills, a sore throat and lost his smell and taste. He is now recovering in self-isolation. Read more about it from Deadline here.

Marvel is looking for a Deaf Actress

Marvel is reportedly searching for a deaf, Native American First Nations, Indigenous or Latinx actress for a role in an upcoming Disney+ series. Speculation is that Disney could be planning to introduce the Daredevil character Echo to one of its shows. Originally an adversary for The Man Without Fear, Echo became a hero herself, becoming Avenger Maya Lopez in the New Avengers and then a help to Wolverine and Moon Knight. Read more here.

ASL on Zoey's Playlist

Below is a bit of the ASL dance performance last night on NBC's show Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist. It was put together with the help of Deaf West Theater.

Zoey meets Deaf West

The NBC show Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist worked with LA's Deaf West Theatre to create Sunday night's episode of the musical series. Deaf West's Sandra Mae Frank is guest star and is joined by other deaf performers. In the episode, Zoey meets the daughter of her dad’s caregiver. Even though the woman is deaf she can understand her "heart song." The title character has the ability to hear the innermost thoughts of people around her—but it is expressed through popular songs and big dance numbers. Below is a video sneak peek. Read more about how the episode came about here.

Grey’s Anatomy adds Deaf Doctor to TV Series

The ABC show Grey’s Anatomy introduced a new deaf character this past week. The program titled Save the Last Dance for Me aired Thursday night with the role of Dr. Lauren Riley played by deaf actress Shoshannah Stern. Riley is a diagnostic expert who signs but communicates with hearing patients through a tablet. While ABC has promoted the series as "the first primetime television series to introduce a deaf doctor as a recurring character" it is actually not the first to do so. The shows Heroes and E.R. featured doctors who were deaf. Shoshannah Stern talks about how she got the role of Dr. Riley in a TV Guide interview and an interview with Variety
.

ABC Show to feature ASL

ABC’s 'The Good Doctor' will air an episode on Monday that features ASL. In this episode, the team treats a young boy-born without a fully formed trachea and unable to speak, so he uses ASL to communicate. The boy will be played by deaf actor Zade Garcia. KVUE-TV has a video profile of Zade below (or read the story here).

"I performed at the Super Bowl: You might have missed me"

image from Christine Sun Kim TED talk

Christine Sun Kim signed the National Anthem at the beginning of the Super Bowl—but the TV audience only saw a few seconds of it. Now Kim is calling out Fox Sports for the snub. A "bonus feed" on the Fox Sports website was supposed to be focused on Sun Kim entirely but it wasn't. In an article written for The New York Times, Kim said she was "angry and exasperated" because on the Fox Sports website "the cameras cut away to show close-ups of the players roughly midway through each song." Read her opinion piece here.