The Common Bond

Sun, 22 Jul 2007 21:15:44 GMT

Who doesn't watch the Tonys (or the Oscars) without imagining their own acceptance speech? I found myself taken aback, heart bursting when I heard this one this year:
(and he's an SU alum, too..)

Frank Langella

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play

For Frost/Nixon

There's a line in Frost/Nixon which says, "Success in America is unlike success anywhere else. That feeling when you are up is indescribable." And I'm very grateful to the theatre community, to my colleagues in Frost/Nixon here and overseas, and to the New York theatregoing public for allowing me that feeling this season.

The line in the play then goes on to say, "But there's another feeling -- when it's gone, to somewhere else, to someone else." And I know that feeling. Everyone in this room knows it. I suppose we can't stop people from putting us into competition with one another and once we are here, I suppose we all want to win. But I think we must honor the common bond in us, the struggle, the striving for success, because that's a race you simply can't lose. I am very proud and very honored to live an work among you splendid people, thank you.

Thank you for giving me that indescribable feeling. I wish it for you all.

Catch it if you Can

Thu, 22 Mar 2007 03:36:57 GMT

It may not be the best thing ever made on the topic, but "Through Deaf Eyes", a documentary now showing on PBS, has a wonderful melange of description/narration, interview/clips of previous films from Deaf History and (my favorite part) original films by Deaf filmmakers. The short film "Vital Signs" is particularly powerful, because of the way it parallels American Sign Language and cinematic storytelling techniques.
And my good friend Joan Wattman was one of the Editing Interpreters who worked on the documentary!
Check it out:
http://www.pbs.org/weta/throughdeafeyes/about/broadcast.html

akh1221

The Common Bond

Catch it if you Can