Speech-Language Pathology/Stuttering/Acting and Theater

Audience Reaction Video
After performing in a play I interviewed audience members asking what they thought about seeing an actor who stutters.--Thomas David Kehoe 01:33, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

Watch the video.

First Interview
WOMAN: I thought you did a great job. And at first I didn't know if it was part of the acting or not. I even asked Richard if it was part of it or not. I couldn't even tell if you were acting or if it was real. But I thought you did a great job and I didn't think it made it any worse than it would have been if you didn't stutter. I thought it was great.

Second Interview
WOMAN: I thought you were excellent. I met you before the show so I already knew. But it was like part of the act. I didn't know that was an anti-stutter device. I just thought that was part of your costume. I thought you were great.

Third Interview

TDK: What did you think of my stuttering?

MAN: It just seemed natural, like a part of who you were. And also there were times when you used it well.

TDK: If you heard that another play had an actor who stuttered in it, would that make you less likely to go see the play, or would you not care?

FAST-TALKING WOMAN: It gives the opportunity to slow down and actually the words that are being said. Otherwise if they're flying by too fast then it just kinda does just that, you're not even able to catch it as it rides by. But if you slow down and catch, you syllabalize it goes then that would seem to me to be a good thing. Just kinda slowing down the gears a little bit, snapping them back.

Fourth Interview

TDK: What did you think about me stuttering?

SETH'S MOM: Well, what I first thought that it was part of your act. Then eventually I caught on and I just thought it was great that you were performing and just being who you were and being an actor and making us all comfortable with that. It's not an experience I have every day, communicating with someone that has any kind of speech difficulties. And then the part where you said, "No, I just stutter," after the crushed nut episode, that was just a real, it just helped us all, kind of, yeah, it was a joke, and broke the ice, along with everything else being, talk about rawness of human emotions and kind of everything laid open, it was very helpful, and once again remembering that we're all human and we all have things to contribute and we all have things we don't like about us.

SETH DREAMSEEKER WAXING MOON BRAUN: I felt like it's engaging to watch you perform because what's engaging about a performer is presence, and you're ability to stay present with the dynamic of your character, even though you're stuttering. It's very interesting, it's like, if you're that committed as a performer, to move through what might be difficult, it engages me.

TDK: What did you think of my electronic anti-stuttering device? Was it weird or distracting that I was using this?

SETH DREAMSEEKER WAXING MOON BRAUN: Well, since I know you, David, I thought, OK, I wonder if that's an anti-stuttering device? But I didn't even think about that until I'd seen it like ten minutes into the show. It was just like, maybe this is character. I really that it was part of a shift of character because you used it really well.

TDK: There's a group of teenagers who stutter in New York City who've formed an acting company. Is there anything you'd like to tell them?

SETH DREAMSEEKER WAXING MOON BRAUN: Hell yeah! I support you in training as young warrior artists.

Fifth Interview

TDK: What did you think about me stuttering?

DUNE: I just saw these different characters on stage, and it was just a quality of that character. Every different, completely different character. It took on a different quality, just like any other attribute that a person would have.

TDK: A group of teenagers who stutter in New York City have formed an acting company. Is there anything you'd like to say to them?

DUNE: Right on! Just keep doing what you're doing. I mean, I think that watching the performance, people that are trying out these different aspects of themselves, I want to do it. So I think that anyone that's doing it, go for it. It must be really a freeing thing, and takes a lot of courage.

Sixth Interview

TDK: Nir Banai was also in this play. What was it like working with a person who stuttered?

NIR BANAI: It was great. It was very inspiring to see you do such a performance with stuttering and having so much confidence to do it. It was really impressive. It was so impressive that you even used it as a joke in one of the skits. I was really impressed that you feel so comfortable with it.

Seventh Interview

TDK: If you heard that another actor in another play stuttered, would that make you less likely to go to the play?

MAN: Well, no, I don't think so. I mean, no. Definitely not.

TDK: There's a group of teenagers who stutter in New York who have formed an acting company. Is there anything you'd like to say to them?

MAN: Well, um, so, I think if they are looking for some inspiration then, um, well, if I was them I would have found that tonight.

Eighth Interview

TDK: What did you think about me stuttering?

GIGGLING WOMAN: I thought it was beautiful. You did a great job, I thought it was very real. Yeah, I was convinced&#151;

TDK: Well, it was real, I do stutter!

GIGGLING WOMAN: You do stutter? No, you don't really stutter, do you?

TDK: Amazingly real, isn't it?

GIGGLING WOMAN: It was. It was very very real.

TDK: Wow. Great. I achieved that.

GIGGLING WOMAN: Yeah.

TDK: What did you think of the electronic anti-stuttering device I was wearing?

GIGGLING WOMAN: Oh this thing? I thought that was super cool. I did, I thought it was great.

Ninth Interview

TDK: What did you think of me stuttering?

WOMAN: It was beautiful. For real. I thought, I was much more, like, into the creativity of the play and thought that you guys pulled off a really beautiful creation, that you guys made.

TDK: You weren't wishing they had someone who wasn't stuttering?

WOMAN: No way, man. No way. I thought it was beautiful. It was great. You were great. I was very impressed.