Enjoy this great recorded workshop!

Location: Your home or office (online)

RID CEUs: 0.4 PS (4 hours)

Cost: $60

Language: English [Captioned]

Workshop Description:

You take someone else’s words, thoughts, emotions, beliefs, and intentions, and you express them in your own voice. Are you a professional American Sign Language Interpreter working with a consumer or... are you an actor working with a script? Actors and interpreters have similar challenges; they want their “audience” to have an emotional response to their words, but this will never happen if the presentation seems mechanical or robotic, or is simply the recitation of a text without appearing to have a motivation and history behind it. Instead, actors and interpreters must strive to create the “illusion of the first time,” when the words expressed appear to be alive, original, and backed by intention. This workshop, presented by actor, director, and interpreter Alek Lev, examines the overlap between these two professions, and presents acting tools that interpreters can use to better express the content and spirit of a message, including character study, text analysis, physical presentation, and vocal control and power. Interpreters have long debated whether or not interpreting is acting. It is. It just shouldn’t be bad acting.

Educational Objectives:

At the conclusion of this workshop students will be able to:

• Understand and identify “The Voicing Problem” and “The Acting Problem”
• Define and use “given circumstances” to understand the context of a message
• Define and use “objectives,” showing that without them, a message is nearly meaningless
• Examine how objectives changes “beat” by “beat”
• Identify physical habits and learn to make healthier choices
• Recognize sign production habits and take control of sign production
• Recognize vocal production habits and learn how to use the voice with power and control
• Use script analysis, finding beats, choosing superobjectives, scene objectives, and moment-to-moment objectives, while locating obstacles and determining given circumstances
  

Presenter Bio:

Alek Lev

Alek Lev is a nationally certified American Sign Language interpreter (NIC-Master, CI, CT), a director, actor, and writer, and a political organizer. He has interpreted for three presidents, two Broadway shows, and one Beatle. Over the last twenty years, he has worked freelance in New York and Los Angeles, has taught translation at California State University at Northridge, and has presented CEU workshops to interpreters all around the country. Alek graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Wesleyan University with a BA in Theater and English.

Alek trained at The National Theatre of the Deaf’s Professional Theatre School, and stage managed, interpreted, and performed on to tour with their children’s theater, The Little Theatre of the Deaf. In Los Angeles, he has worked with Deaf West Theatre, appearing in Romeo and Juliet and Flowers for Algernon, directing their Much Ado About Nothing workshop, and rehearsal interpreting for Spring Awakening, At Home at the Zoo, and American Buffalo. In 2023, Alek co-directed Victory Hall Opera’s Orpheus and Erica, a new opera performed by Deaf actors and hearing singers.

Alek wrote, directed, edited, and produced WHAT?,  a silent, black-and-white silent feature film which tells the story of a Deaf man struggling for respect in Hollywood. The investors were Deaf, the executive producers were Deaf, the cinematographer was Deaf, as was most of the cast. Also the caterer. The film was accepted to 24 film festival across 9 countries, winning 20 awards, including 4 for Best Picture, 4 for Best Actor, 3 for Best Director, and 3 Audience Awards. Then in November of 2023, Alek directed No Plans This Weekend, an entirely improvised feature comedy, currently in post-production.

As a podcast producer, Alek has created four series: Private Joke: The Official How I Met Your Mother Podcast, Talking Buster Keaton, Meeting Tom Cruise, and his current work, Arts Educators Save the World. This latest show brings together successful artists in conversation with their mentors; Season One launched with Lin-Manuel Miranda (’02) and Season Two concluded with Bradley Whitford (’81).

Alek also worked on several presidential campaigns, functioning as a campaign surrogate, congressional district team coordinator, city-wide training director, precinct captain organizer, and special project assistant to the State and Field Directors. He also ran - alas, unsuccessfully - to join his local community council.

His workshops for ASL interpreters include: A History of the English Language (And Why Interpreters Should Care); Acting Tools for Terps: A Crash Course in Sounding Human; The Language of Film: Interpreting for and about Film Production; Caffeinated Classifiers: Coffee, Espresso, and Other Reasons for Living; and the Interpreting Politics series, which includes The Congress; The President; The Courts and the Constitution; and Political Parties and Ideology.

Born and raised in New York City, Alek now lives in Los Angeles with his wife, two children, and espresso machine. Check out all the goodies at www.AlekLev.com.