INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. – On the evening of August 6, Aistë “Ice” Masters and her 13-year-old son Timmy were sitting in the front row of the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival (LTSF) The Merry Wives of Windsor show laughing hysterically. This was a special night for them considering sign-language interpreters Jo Dunlap and Shawna Hafen were there, allowing them both to get the full Shakespearian theater experience.

Although the Masters’s have lived in Stateline for 18 years, this was the first time that they attended an LTSF performance. Timmy was born profoundly deaf in both ears, suffering from bilateral hearing loss. He wears a cochlear device which maybe gives him 50% hearing, but the sounds are different. It takes a lot of effort to depend on it for hearing and the devices can fail, so deaf people tend to primarily use sign language as it’s a more reliable source of communication. Ice herself took six levels of American Sign Language (ASL) at Lake Tahoe Community College when he was born and used it to communicate with him as a baby and toddler.

You wouldn’t know from meeting Timmy that he is deaf. It seems that’s the way with most people who have disabilities…they act and function in the world just like anyone else but just have to work a little bit harder to enjoy the same things those blessed with our full five senses do. Timmy’s speech is very clear, thanks to Ice putting Timmy in speech therapy before he had access to sound. He also reads lips very well.

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“He’s figured out if he vocalizes it, he gets what he wants faster so he adapted and made his own form of communication. He understands context through body language, lip reading, facial expressions…deaf people are very observant. And I swear that deaf people have peripheral vision. There’s nothing I can hide from him,” Ice laughs.

She says that Timmy had some exposure to Shakespeare theater in school, but this was his first time attending a show at Sand Harbor. He loved it, although he admitted to his mom later that he was maybe a little too young for some of the content.

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“There’s an infidelity theme in it, and ASL is very visual, so I think it was doubly entertaining for us adults watching the interpreters sign it. Some of the jokes were interpreted so skillfully; all of us sitting there– deaf or not– burst out laughing watching them,” Ice says.

This is the second year that LTSF has offered sign-interpreted performances as well as wheelchair and accessible seating for all mainstage performances. This year, LTSF joined up with Access Tahoe to help get the word out.

“This is a beautiful example for our community on how to offer and create more inclusive events,” says Access Tahoe Founder Angie Reagan.

“I went to the show in July, and I think this is a precursor to make it a bigger deal next year. I just met someone at Three Pines Coffee last weekend who was deaf and visiting Tahoe…he already had plans [for the August 6 show] but there are people who live here who can benefit from this as well; there are more people out there with this need. We hope to make more events in Tahoe more sensory-friendly and help get the message out to see these events get bigger next year,” Reagan adds.

LTSF Executive Director Joe Atack says, “This is our second year doing [these ASL shows]. We used to have them a long time ago, but it’s been hard to find interpreters who know theater. Our interpreters tonight—Jo Dunlap and Shawna Hafen– have more of an understanding of it, and it’s a long-term goal of ours to get them connected to the Tahoe community.”

He explained that they also had an ASL interpreter at one of their Young Shakespeare shows in Reno. The Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival recently put on 20 performances at Lake Tahoe schools and libraries in Washoe County for free using student theater performers through its 2024 Young Shakespeare program.

“Joe is very kind and supportive. I have a disability too, and everyone was so nice to our service dogs,” Reagan adds.

“This is a big, appreciated gift. Interpreting is expensive and hard to do so having this available was great. So many other people (with their hearing) approached the interpreters after the show and thanked them for being there,” Ice says. She explained that Timmy had a personal interpreter who went to school with him, but she felt that all the kids in his class benefited from being exposed to sign language.

“I think everyone should know at least a little bit of sign language; it’s so helpful in life especially if you or your loved one lose your hearing when you get older. We had a great time, and it was doubly fun because of the interpretation. Thank you to Access Tahoe and the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival,” Ice says.

With an ASL interpreter next to him at the August 6 show, Atack added, “We are really passionate about increasing accessibility to our performances here at Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival and we’d like to see more increased access across events at places around the lake. We’re super grateful to have our ASL interpreters here tonight and offer assisted sound devices for folks, too. But it’s only in the beginning of our process and we always want to get better so stay tuned and hopefully we’ll be making improvements as we move forward.”

For more information about Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, visit https://laketahoeshakespeare.com/. For more information about Access Tahoe, visit https://www.accesstahoe.org/.