Michael Arden

Let me tell you, no deaf people attended this conference.

So it was decisions were being made for the deaf community by hearing people.

So this Milan conference happened and it was sort of decided by this group of hearing educators for the deaf that oralism was the only way by which deaf children could become part of society.

And that means forced speaking.

Right.

This is still – we are still seeing now the like reverberations of this like horrible, abusive way of thinking and educational system for the deaf where kids who might not have ever – shouldn't be speaking at all because that's not – they're deaf, right?

And signing was forbidden and people were forced to speak and sterilized and, and, and, and.

And it was this really –

eye-opening moment for this piece because this is what was happening at the time.

And deaf students were called, they would mark them as fails if they couldn't speak.

And a huge plot point in Spring Awakening is the failing of the student.

Moritz and so it just kind of opened up this oh well what if we really explored what was happening at the time and could tell a story about deaf history through the lens of this Vatican play and story and it like cosmically all like kind of aligned and fit together and like in some way provided a context that the original play does not have which I think like makes it a much better play

At that point, you had spent more than a decade building your life and career as an actor.

Moving from performing inside a production to holding an entire production requires a different relationship to making theater.

From what I can tell, you haven't acted on stage or screen since 2019.

I think you might be right about that.

Just at dinner.

Looking back now, how would you view your transition from actor to director?

Looking at it now, especially in retrospect, it feels inevitable and makes complete sense.

But at the time when I started to do it, it felt kind of radical.