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American Sign Language Play: "Little Deaf Riding Hood"

From the story "Little Red Riding Hood"

Adaptation © by Scott Mather  (Available for nonprofit use)

Used with permission: Lifeprint.com

 

Audience: Deaf adults

Characters stand in order from stage left to right GRANDMA, WOLF, RH

 

Intro: 

 

RH: YOU-ALL REMEMBER STORY NAME "LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD"?

WOLF: STORY REALLY ABOUT (nodding yes) DEAF GIRL.

GRANDMA: TODAY WE TELL YOU (nodding yes) REAL STORY.

 

Introduce characters:

 

RH: MY NAME LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD. NAME SIGN RH (with a twist down low on right)

I DEAF. KNOW ASL. ALSO ORAL SCHOOL I GO fsh, #SO CAN VOICE I.

MY MOTHER HEARING, KNOW ASL.

WE LIVE BIG HOUSE IN FOREST.

 

GRANDMA: I GRANDMA I. HEARING I. LEARNING ASL. SMALL HOUSE HAVE. PLACE ONE M-I-L-E FROM RH HOUSE.

 

RH: MY big-HOUSE HERE (cluster hand, glance), GRANDMA'S little-HOUSE HERE. (Grandma nods yes) (LLR shows curved path from one house to the other.) TWO (backhand) ROOM++ point; KITCHEN, BEDROOM. GRANDMA LIVE WITH GRANDPA (ix: to right). HEARING ix:HE. ASL LEARNING ix:HE same-as GRANDMA. OFTEN HUNT ix:HE.

 

WOLF: WOLF I. HAVE BIG EARS, BIG EYES, LONG SHARP TEETH. HEAR GOOD, SEE VERY GOOD, SMELL VERY VERY (hand goes way up) GOOD! ASL DON'T KNOW, NOT NEED! IN FOREST I LIVE. ALWAYS HUNGRY I.  (Looks threateningly at LLR & GRANDMA. (LLR & GRANDMA shrink back from wolf in reaction)

 

Open story:

 

RH: ONCE UPON A TIME (hour with T-Hand) FOOD MY MOTHER (point) ASK-TO-ME DELIVER GRANDMA. SHE TELL-ME (eyes looking down, body shift to left) BE-CAREFUL. WOLF YOU LOOK-around-for. NOW GO. SOON BECOME DARK.

 

RH: (Bodyshift to left, look up to right) OK. I BE-CAREFUL. NOW LEAVE. (outlines basket, picks up in left hand, set's off, swinging basket for fun.)

 

WOLF: sees RH, creeps close, opens mouth, and gets hit by the picnic basket she is swinging. Silently roars in pain, pulls out and throws away a broken tooth. Thinks...  WHERE RH GO-GO? ...WONDER... I KNOW! - GRANDMA HOUSE!..... OK (nodding confidently) FIRST GRANDMA I EAT. NEXT RH I EAT (smiles) FOR DESSERT! (Silent roar. Walk with arms, slowly picking up speed and switching to both sets of fingers to show running...)

 

GRANDMA: (acts startled when she hears this last roar) NOISE-Whq? .....I KNOW - WOLF! I HIDE I IN KITCHEN BEHIND DOOR. (peeks out through crack in "door" hands and stays in that position)

 

WOLF: (tongue hanging out, breathing hard, opens door, shuts behind him) NOBODY HERE. GRANDMA WHERE? (looks around, then puts hand to ear as he hears something) FOOTSTEPS COME! QUICK IN BED! (closes eyes, then opens one and looks around, while continuing to hold sign for BED)

 

RH: (comes up to door swinging picnic basket. Sets it down.) WOW, DARK BECOME FAST! (Turns doorknob and pushes door open just a crack and looks in.) To audience: STRANGE. GRANDMA IN BED? NOT REMEMBER ix:SHE SO UGLY (looks back in room) To audience: WAIT! I NOT STUPID! ix:THAT NOT GRANDMA. ix:THAT WOLF ix:THAT. (Next, does double-take when sees Grandma peering out of crack behind kitchen door)

 

GRANDMA: HELP! (after signing "help", goes back to peering out from crack in "door" hands)

 

RH: I-UNDERSTAND. (to audience) IDEA! Pushes door open, mouths to the wolf: "Grandma! What big eyes you have!"  ...simultaneously opens eyes wide and signs GRANDPA WHERE during "eyes you have", toward Grandma.

 

WOLF: Comes out of sleeping position and says sweetly, head to one side, nodding, batting eyes, mouths and signs words at same time: "BETTER SEE YOU WITH!" Goes back into sleeping position...

 

GRANDMA: (answering RH) OUTSIDE HUNTING (repeats until LLR looks, then goes back to peering our from behind "door")

 

RH: Mouths to the wolf:  "Grandma, what big ears you have!"  ...while simultaneously signing FLASH LIGHTS FLASH LIGHTS during the word "ears", toward Grandma.

 

WOLF: Comes out of sleeping position, sweetly mouths and signs words at same time: "BETTER HEAR YOU WITH!"  then smiles big, showing teeth and batting eyes a few times. Holds teeth position...

 

GRANDMA: closes "door", turns to one side, holds right modified "X" hand low and left modified "O" hand high. "X" hand flips light switch up as "O" hand opens to a "5" hand showing the light coming on. Reverse to shut off. Repeats 10 times.

 

RH: Notices the wolf's teeth, and fearfully, really meaning it this time, mouths and signs to wolf: "Grandma, what big teeth you have!"

 

WOLF: Smile turns to a scowl, comes out of sleeping position and threateningly mouths and signs: "BETTER EAT YOU WITH!"

 

RH: To audience: SCARED, I! BUT SUDDENLY (look back over shoulder) STEPS I FEEL VIBRATION (start pounding with fists.) I YELL "WOLF! WOLF!" ....I (Cl:2) drop-to-the FLOOR. GRANDPA open door, SHOOTS (wolf reacts) WOLF DEAD. (Wolf drops his head and lets tongue hang out exactly when RH signs "dead")

WE SAVED! (Grandma applauds.)

 

Everyone comes back out of character except the wolf. Wolf stays dead, watches RH out of corner of his eye for his cue.

 

Closing remarks:

 

GRANDMA: (beaming) FROM STORY WE LEARN TWO THINGS:

RH: (aggressively, in triumph) FIRST, DEAF CAN DO IT - ALL BUT HEAR.

WOLF: (looks up ruefully) SECOND, ASL (nodding head) EVERYONE SHOULD LEARN!

 

All sign FINISH together, and bow together....


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