By Karen Bloom
That is why "No Limits Theater" has found its way to the museum's state of the art 140-seat theater next weekend. In what museum officials describe as "a very special event," a full-length theatrical production will be performed by hearing-impaired children who have speaking abilities. The show, "Believe It Or Not," is produced by the Los Angeles-based No Limits Theater. The theater group has created an original play with full set, costumes and music that will showcase the talents of a group of 10 hearing-impaired children.Directed by local children's theater director, Steve Gemano, the play is a humorous look at television programming. The message of the play "is learning from your mistakes," said No Limits Founder and executive director Michelle Christie. There's a 'mistake' in every scene that results in a great innovation." And, of course, the performance ends happily for all involved.But best of all is the positive feelings that children have from being involved in something like this. "This is a really special thing for anyone who has a child who is deaf or hearing-impaired," said director Steve Gemano.No Limits was founded in Los Angeles in 1996 by Michelle Christie, a child actress who holds a master's degree in deaf education. She wove her two interests together with this group, whose goal is to educate the community about hearing loss and give hearing-impaired children the confidence to speak and perform in front of people. "I felt there weren't a lot of resources for our kids and [theater} was a great way to increase vocabulary and language and development of speech through experience," she said. "You put a costume on a kid and they'll just about do anything for you."The company has four shows per year in production nationally. This is the second year their show will be presented on Long Island. The performance is being funded by the Children's Hearing Institute of Manhattan. The 10 children involved, come from seven Nassau County Schools, including the Mill Neck School for the Deaf, Boces at Clark Middle School and five public schools. Ranging in age from 6 to 13, the children have been preparing for five weeks and will have completed approximately 80 hours of rehearsal by the time they perform their show. So there are no distractions from learning the lines, the children practice in costume and with sets from the first rehearsals. Christie said that "seeing" the words as part of a set or costume, and touching it "will apply meaning to the word and they learn it better."Those who come out to the Long Island Children's Museum this weekend will be learning from them as well. "It feels good to be involved in something like this," said Gemano.
Pictured above:(left to right) Grace Agolia, Massapequa Park; Elizabeth Davidson, East Meadow: Jonathon Pollino, Plainview; Heather Artinian, Glen Cove; Nicolas Samber, East Meadow. (Not pictured are Kelly Kildare, Massapequa; Alexandra Lynn, Manhasset; Veronica Miller, East Meadow; Anthony Tringali, Farmingdale; Marissa Wachsstock, East Meadow.
