Midsummer Night's Dream at Highland Bowl

I have been rehearing as a fairy for Peter Quince in Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream for 2 months. As a fairy, I translate a hearing person's spoken lines into ASL (American Sign Language). I and other deaf/hard of hearing/ASL-skilled hearing cast members are all fairies in purple outfits with wings. All hearing cast members (spoken words only) act as real characters in Shakespearean outfits. The ongoing effort to work together, the ASL and English, have been an amazing experience for the cast members. 

This production is run by Rochester Shakespeare Players, a non-for profit organization that provides Shakespeare productions in the city of Rochester for almost 100 years. It is directed by Luane Davis Haggerty. This Midsummer Night's Dream production is the very first one that is including deaf/hard of hearing and ASL-skilled hearing cast members ever in history. So, it is a big deal for the city of Rochester, NY. 

Here is the flyer with details for you to look at. To be able to see it bigger, you need to click right on the flyer.

The event will last for 2 weeks from July 5th until July 19th. There will be no shows on Mondays and Thursdays (rest days). It is free to the public taking place outside at Highland Park where a white stage exists in "the Highland Bowl". Foods, chairs/blankets, alcohol, and families are good for this event. 

Through GoFundMe.com and some tax refund, I was able to purchase Numark Mixture DJ Pro 2 and Harbinger speakers. I thank all the donators who made this possible. Without the support I received from friends and family, this wouldn't be possible. Yet the challenge became a bit nasty. My iMac laptop is old (10.5.8 version) and wouldn't recognize the Sarato Into 1.2 software that goes with the Numark DJ device. I had e-mail conversations with the Sarato company who made the software, which didn't get anywhere toward success. So I had to head over to Apple Store at Eastview Mall, a long trip from my home and back. I had to get my laptop upgraded to 10.6 version. It took 45 minutes to upgrade. Finally the Serato Intro software was turned on instead of quitting all of a sudden. The Apple Store tech people were amazing and helped me a lot. When I hooked the DJ device,  the Serato Intro software wouldn't recognize the DJ device. I went to Guitar Center where I purchased the device and speakers, and showed the man what was wrong. He called a Numark Mixture DJ Pro 2 expert. It turned out that I must have the DJ device hooked to the computer and download the Serato Intro software at the same time, which I did not do. When back home, I did just that and it worked. Then the sound didn't come out of the new speakers. I realized on the next day that I didn't plug the cable into the back of the speakers deep enough and they were loose. I pushed them in deeper and then the sound came on beautifully. 

After 2 weeks of struggling to solve the problems, I am now finally ready to learn, practice, and hone the skills I need to become a DJ. I watched YouTube videos of Numark Mixture DJ Pro 2 to get ideas of how it all works with tricks and so forth. I am going to work on the DJ skills daily as much as possible to reach a goal to become DJ WildPoet. That's the trademark I would like to use to call myself when DJ-ing around out to the public when ready. I will create business cards, post the videos of my DJ-ing, and create a network with the DJ entertainment industries or whatever available. I just played around with Dee-Lite's "Groove Is In The Heart" song and it was really fun to speed up the tempos, tweak the pitches, jog the track, and so forth. I also played around with my own electronic music as well. I am very excited and looking forward to entertaining the audience in the near future when I'm ready. 

Here are the photos of Numark DJ device and the speakers, hooked up to my iMac laptop, for you to see.

Dangerous Signs Performance at MuCCC, Saturday, May 10th

I and the cast members - Dangerous Signs - performed at MuCCC twice on May 10th, which was at 3 PM and 8 PM. The show was for MuCCC's College Theater Festival. We performed Stevie Wonder's "Superstitious" song, translated into ASL. We then did skits about the twilight zone related to fear, darkness, superstitious, and so forth. We also did skits about common fear or ignorance toward deafness and deaf culture by hearing people that we are familiar with such as Harry Potter's family hating magic comparing to hearing family denying ASL and things like that. We also did "Zombies" skit, created by Malik Paris, using each letter of the word Zombies, which we acted as zombies and Troy Chapman used the letters (fingerspelling) and using them to represent something. The example is using the letter "O" as eye falling of the socket, using the letter "B" as a blade to chop off the head, and things like that. At the end, we all performed my originally composed electronic music with my recorded voice poem titled "Blade Gray Sky". We all collaborated together on this whole work to show the dark side of things I saw and imagined at New York City. The example is "Young kids shoot heroin in darkened alleys."They sat on the floor and acted out shooting heroin and getting high around me. The show went very well. We had a discussion group with an interviewer after the 3 PM show and 8 PM show, learning what the interviewer and audience had to say about our work. It was a great experience. Here are the photos taken during our show.

Peter Quince, Midsummer Night's Dream

I am officially chosen to act as Peter Quince in Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream production in Rochester, NY. What is interesting in this particular production is that it will take place at the Highland Park in the Highland Bowl. There is an outdoor stage at the place. Every year, Rochester has been providing Shakespeare plays at the Highland Bowl during the summer, free to the public. Yet, the unique thing is that my involvement as Peter Quince in this production will be the very first Shakespeare play to include deaf/hard of hearing cast members who will be using American Sign Language (ASL). That has never been shown before at the Highland Bowl site in Rochester's history. So, it will become a big deal this summer. I and several other deaf/hard of hearing actors will use ASL along the hearing cast members who will speak the lines, all at the same time. This will give full access to the hearing and deaf/hard of hearing audience. I am really excited to become part of this historical moment. I am thrilled to just act as Peter outside, which I have never done before. The show will open and run from July 5th - July 19th. 

The Shakespeare Players, a program of the Rochester Community Players, is an ongoing theatrical production company that provides Shakespeare theatrical entertainments in the city of Rochester.

Demo of Myself Playing Kaossilator for GoFundMe.Com Support

I just uploaded a video of myself playing a small electronic music device called Kaossilator. It's to give you an idea of what it sounds like and what it can do. For example, playing a sound effect that sounds like a cat meowing. I also played my own work that I created for the day. Henceforth, this gives you an idea upon playing Kossilator along DJ Numark Mixture 2. Think what that can do. 

Enjoy the YouTube video of me playing Kaossilator:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coOXkwF_Uvk

A generosity of donation toward my goal to get the speakers - Mackie Thump 12 - would be thankful. The speakers would be hooked up to DJ Numark Mixture 2. I need powerful speakers to make the DJ performance strong and entertaining to the crowd. Can you make my dream come true as DJ WildPoet? Go to GoFundMe.Com and help me out:

http://www.gofundme.com/6yvfs4

Mackie Thump 12 Speakers for DJ: GoFundMe.Com

Here is one speaker, on display, that I chose. It's Mackie Thump 12 (Yes, there will be two to buy at the same price). They will cost at regular price of $299.99 with tax up to $315.00. Yet there is a Special Deal at $260.00, but that all depends on how long that deal will last and when the goal is reached. Henceforth, I added 315 bucks to 295 bucks already made, which is the goal of $610.00 now in my GoFundMe.Com. The guy at Guitar Center hooked his iPod to the switch board and turned on the switch that went to this particular speaker. Whoa! It sounded fantastic. It's not a passive speaker, because it is considered as loudness speaker, meaning more amp and strength power. The speakers will go with DJ Numark Mixture 2 device. 

Therefore, let's make sure I get the goal and be able to purchase Mackie Thump 12 speakers and connect them to DJ Numark Mixture 2 device, all together, and perform anywhere I go. I shall pursue to become DJ WildPoet once I reach the goal. 

If you want to chip in some toward the new goal for the speakers, you can click on my GoFundMe.Com site address below:

http://www.gofundme.com/6yvfs4

Over $230.00 Made: GoFundMe.Com: DJ Device

I am happy that I reached the goal toward the amount I want in order to be able to purchase the DJ device called DJ Numark Mixture 2 device. I shall thank the donors who put the amounts toward my goal.

Meanwhile, this does not mean the donations are over. GoFundMe.Com allows the amount to go higher with more donations without limitations. Henceforth, you can still donate in however much amount you want. That would be much appreciated with gratitude. To donate, click on the hyperlink of GoFundMe.Com:

http://www.gofundme.com/6yvfs4

As I see that I got up to 240 bucks with the $10.00 extra, I am to ponder over the idea of looking into the PA speakers that can go with the DJ device I want. I will go to Guitar Center next week and look at the PA speakers. Once chosen, I will inform the exact cost of the speakers and re-new the goal very soon.

All in all, I am pleased to be able to reach the goal toward the DJ device. Again, I thank the people who donated.

May my dream become true so that I will be called DJ WildPoet very soon.