Alexandria Wailes

The views and opinions expressed by speakers and presenters in connection with Art Restart are their own, and not an endorsement by the Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts and the UNC School of the Arts. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Alexandria Wailes is an accomplished actor, choreographer and dancer who just this last season appeared on Broadway in the acclaimed revival of Ntozake Shange’s seminal play “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf.” The production, directed by UNCSA alumna Camille A. Brown, held one notable surprise, the use of American Sign Language, since Alexandria, who is Deaf, played the Lady in Purple, a part that had not originally been written as a Deaf character.

This was not her first time on Broadway. She understudied Marlee Matlin in the revival of “Spring Awakening,” and then she went on in the part for the run’s final month. Before that, she acted in the legendary Deaf West Theatre production of “Big River,” which after its Broadway run toured throughout the U.S. and even played not once but twice in Tokyo.

She’s acted in some of the country’s most respected regional theaters, from Minneapolis’s Mixed Blood Theater to Los Angeles’s Kirk Douglas Theater, and she has also been featured in several popular TV shows, including “Nurse Jackie” and “Law and Order: Criminal Intent.” She is a member of Heidi Latsky Dance Company, and she is the co-founder of BHO5, a company whose mission is, “to usher in a new era of authentic artistic representation of American deaf people.” 

In this episode, Alexandria describes how she crafted her remarkable career as a multidisciplinary performer and explains the work that must still be done to ensure that not only Deaf but also hearing performers can feel fully informed and bolstered in work that features Deaf artists and/or subjects.

Choose a question below to begin exploring the interview:

• Could you talk about how you discovered dance and then decided to pursue it as a career?
• You might have been the first Deaf student many of your dance teachers were teaching. How did you evolve a way to teach your dance teachers how to communicate with you?
• Can you talk about the improvements that have been made so that artists like you can do their work to the fullest?
• I think one way to talk about the work that has yet to be done is to talk about your company, BHO5. What does the name of the company mean? And then what made you want to create the company? What do you want to accomplish with it?
• Can you talk about one specific job or moment in your work as a DASL [Director of Artistic Sign Language] that was particularly challenging?
• What do you think could be done? Is there another way that your work could be made easier?
• How has your work as a DASL affected your work as a performer?
• Can you talk about any upcoming projects that you’re excited about and that you can share with us?

Pier Carlo Talenti: I understand your passion for dance came before your passion for acting. Is that right? 

Alexandria Wailes: That’s right, yeah.

Pier Carlo: Could you talk about how you discovered dance and then decided to pursue it as a career?

Alexandria: I don’t know if I necessarily discovered dance. It was really more of a recognition of saying, “Oh, this is a really good fit for me; this is something that I’m really interested in.” 

I think I might have been 2 or 2 1/2. A doctor had advised my parents, “Hey, maybe try dancing, a movement class, because she is becoming deaf,” — I became deaf through meningitis — and they suggested that I take a class to see if that would be helpful, just with the gross-motor skills and movement to increase my hand-eye coordination. When she tried, my mom didn’t really understand, but it was like I found it. I said, “Yes, I can move.” I just loved it. I fell in love with it. I was really playful and creative. Starting at the age of, I believe, 2 1/2, that’s when I really began.

Then I took a break for a few years because of just life, things that happened in life and the journey that you’re on. When I went back to it, I really focused on it as a young teen. I believe it was not only a physical experience, but it was really very athletic. It was quite athletic in a way, in terms of the technique, just the high consistency and demand of what I was doing. 

Then as I was getting older, I was in an environment where I was getting the best of everything, but at the same time, I didn’t feel like I necessarily fit in anywhere. I believe that dancing was like my safe haven or my escape. It really became more about becoming more connected with who I am as a person and as a dancer but also as a way of communicating, because I know that in hearing spaces, often when I spoke or used my voice, I found some challenges. They would say things like, “You sound weird,” or “You’re not really deaf, are you? Because you can speak.” I was really just fascinated with dance. Often it would be, “Well, then you’re not really deaf because you like to dance and you can speak.” 

So I said, “You know what? Dance for me is a way to communicate amongst human beings in general.” The most primal, basic layer is communicating through your body. It’s a means of communication, a language of its own. It’s not about words. It’s about how we carry ourselves, how we exist, how we live in our body and look at what it means to do that. How do we carry a story in our body? How do we share ideas? How do we push the status quo?

I think that in a way it was like my personal act of rebellion really, to find dance as a way to be myself in a space where people would often question who I was and how I carried myself.

I think that in a way it was like my personal act of rebellion really, to find dance as a way to be myself in a space where people would often question who I was and how I carried myself. My parents were huge fans. They were huge supporters of my journey, and I didn’t really have to think about a plan B or what do I do if this doesn’t work. They were so incredibly supportive, and they said, “You know what? We believe you have something here. We want you to keep going with this.” I’m exceptionally blessed with that because I already had that support system built in.

Pier Carlo: Speaking of communication, I’m guessing that you might have been the first Deaf student many of your dance teachers were teaching. How did you evolve a way to teach your dance teachers how to communicate with you?

Alexandria: I think that’s a really good question. The thing that we had to learn to understand is dance is not just oral-based; it’s not audio-based. It’s physical. It’s based on your vision. It’s soulful. And there are so many layers that are carried within the world of dance. With the teachers that I worked with, it was really more about following along the physical movements, the choreography, the structure, working within a group, using peripheral vision to support how we are going to move together as a group. Every dance teacher is a little different. 

However, there was this huge moment in my journey when I was 15 and I went to a summer program that was based at Gallaudet University. The program was called Young Scholars Program. There were two parts: There was the performative, acting part and then the science; there was like the art and science. 

I participated in the performing part one summer, and for the first time in my life there were professional Deaf dancers. I was surrounded by them. There were skilled professional Deaf actors who had already traveled the world. They came to D.C. for work. That was a huge epiphany. It was a huge shift for me. It was like, “Oh, I am doing the right thing! Maybe I am coming from a place where my choices are a little weird.” But once I found more people who were in alignment with my line of thinking, it was like, “Whoa, there’s a community here. There’s really something here.” It’s something that helped me keep going. Speaking with these professional Deaf dancers and actors in the same language was really profound. It just shaped my confidence moving forward.

Pier Carlo: Was that when you realized you wanted performance to be your career?

Alexandria: I think it was around that time, yeah. It was kind of like I was in it for life. There was never a moment of, “Yeah, I’m going to do something else.” No, it was, “Yes, this is what I am going to do.” I couldn’t really think of doing anything else that gave me that level of authenticity or deep gratitude, joy, all of the things that it gives me even through all of the struggles. Going through dance and performing on a stage, really that became a second home for me. Whenever I went onstage, it was just very reassuring. Regardless of what was happening outside of the stage, that was that one space that I held dear. 

Working with these artists, it was just so powerful. It was a powerful moment for all of us to share our experiences with each other and share that with an audience. Really, there’s more to it. I think it’s more than, “Oh, this is going to be the career.” It was really more like, “This is who I am, this is what keeps me happy. How do I keep doing more of this?” I couldn’t really think of another journey.

Pier Carlo: So thinking back between your first professional gig and your experience most recently on Broadway in “For Colored Girls,” I’m wondering if you can talk about ... . Let’s start with the good stuff first. Can you talk about the improvements that have been made so that artists like you can do their work to the fullest?

Alexandria: That’s an interesting question. My first professional job that I did as a paid actor or actress, I was 13. I was a dancer in a play about a beach party. It was a musical called “Hit the Surf.” It was a really fun play and didn’t really require much speaking or language or signing. It was really all in the dance, and I just had a good time. 

At that time, there were no provisions for interpreters, whereas last year we had a DASL [pron. dazzle], Director of Artistic Sign Language, and we had interpreters for the creative process. That was an ongoing work in progress, seeing how that expanded. There was education that was involved and that was ongoing. 

For everyone involved, especially the producers, the creative team and everyone within the company, it was really just a different level of understanding the different positions. A DASL’s focus is really on everything within the creative side, the production, and there’s almost a layer of dramaturgy involved, talking about all of the creative decisions that are being made. On the other hand, the interpreters and the director of the interpreters are really focused on providing access and mediating and providing that access to communication.

There are different angles within the world of bilingual environments where both languages are being used. In the musical I did when I was 13, “Hit the Surf,” my part wasn’t written as a Deaf character just like Ntozake Shange didn’t write the Lady in Purple as a Deaf woman. So I think that is a continuous exploration that I have in my journey: What does it mean to embody characters that on the page can be open to the actor’s interpretation or what the actor delivers and brings to the character? It’s that level of excitement for me of how it’s written with the culture, the history behind it, and the Deafness. And I feel both sides of it. 

The reason I mentioned the difference back when I was 13 compared to last year with “For Colored Girls” is to show the biggest shift in how we as a society with artists, theater, dance, are saying, “Yeah, let’s move forward. Let’s progress to broadening who’s at the table.” And there is a difference there. It’s a different shift, a different approach.

There’s still tons more work to be done. There’s still a lot more education that needs to happen, and it’s ongoing, but there’s more space for those conversations to happen. Really it just takes everyone to commit to realizing that there’s just so much that we don’t know, because we’re still learning together.

Pier Carlo: I think one way to talk about the work that has yet to be done is to talk about your company, BHO5. What does the name of the company mean? And then what made you want to create the company? What do you want to accomplish with it?

Alexandria: BHO5 is one way of notating the language of ASL. There are different ways to notate an ASL or document in text. It’s an homage to those who taught me how to notate, how to document sign choices and translation. It’s called ASL Gloss. When you ASL Gloss, it’s a way to notate certain sign choices or document. 

BH is an acronym for Both Hands. The O5 refers to the gesture of the shape that you make with your hand, and it can mean many things. It could be an enlightening or a realization, in terms of how you shape open your hand from a zero to a five shape. Or lights changing. There are so many different signs or things that you can say using the O5, for instance say a room has been dark and then it has suddenly been lit up, then you turn the lights on or the spotlight on or you shine a spotlight into a certain space. As you can see, I’m moving my hands from a zero shape to a five shape, and so that’s the O5 part. 

In our company, we want to shine light on and put attention to the forefront in terms of recognizing what’s most important and what we need to value. What’s the value within a person, within the language, within the culture, the artistry that a person brings, all of the things that encompass and are built into that person? We want to recognize and shine a light on that. 

People were reaching out to me; they’d say, “What does a DASL do? Why do I need a DASL? What is this position for? We have interpreters. Shouldn’t this be their job?” And I’m like, “Oh, no, no, no. They’re totally separate roles, separate responsibilities, separate ways of looking at the work."

For BHO5, right now, I decided we needed to at least put out something simple, and we wanted to be clear. We wanted a website to be developed. People were reaching out to me; they’d say, “What does a DASL do? Why do I need a DASL? What is this position for? We have interpreters. Shouldn’t this be their job?” And I’m like, “Oh, no, no, no. They’re totally separate roles, separate responsibilities, separate ways of looking at the work.” 

Using BHO5, we wanted to build an opportunity for people to learn, and we wanted to build it in a way that they could read in their own time because it can be a lot of information. It can be a lot to take in. We wanted to make it easy to read and understand in your own time and absorb that information because you don’t know everything. I don’t know everything. I’ve been in this field for so long, but I still don’t know everything. But I commit to ongoing education, learning, improving, and making sure that we’re paying our artists and educating folks to do so.

We want to expand the pool of the artistry that’s within this group of DASLs, both old and new. The position of ASL consultant is a very specific role. You have ASL consultant, ASL advisor. The reason we call an ASL Director a DASL is the level of commitment that is required for the thought process, the creativity that you’re delivering, all of what it takes to deliver and create a story that will help support the director’s vision, help support the choreographers and the performers that are within it.

And so they’re part of the conversation overall. Maybe it’s someone who is signing and the character’s from Boston. What kind of sign choices might we ask them to use to communicate in sign language with, say, a deaf person from Japan. If they don’t use ASL, then what do we do? That’s where you work closely with the actors, you work with the creative team; that’s the DASL, Director of Artistic Sign Language. That’s the level of skill and how embedded you are in the team, the creative team, because it takes a lot of experience, learning different nuances that come with that position.

Pier Carlo: The first time I became aware of the position was — it wasn’t known as a DASL then; it was a sign master — when Phyllis Frelich was the sign master on “Sleeping Beauty Wakes.” I loved watching her work. 

I wonder if you could talk about one specific job or moment in your work as a DASL that was particularly challenging, just so we can get a better understanding of what’s involved.

Alexandria: [She starts laughing.] I’m laughing because unfortunately it happens a lot more than I’d like to admit. 

Phyllis was one of my mentors, and she was one of the people that I want to honor. She was one of the people that I had thought about when I created BHO5 and that notation. In theater, it used to be called sign master or SM, and a group of theater makers in D.C., who were Deaf themselves, they saw that the daily call sheet was becoming very confusing because you have a stage manager and then you have the sign master and oftentimes in theater we abbreviate. So we’re like, “Wait a minute, who needs to show up on this call sheet? It says, ‘The SM needs to show up at this time.’” It was causing a lot of confusion. 

Also, now with the word master itself in our current social, political, racial climate, using the word sign master has a different connotation. We wanted to step away from that connotation and really look at what it actually means. 

In television, stage, film, when we add the DASL, in the process of preparing for a production, usually the addition of a DASL happens right before the production actually starts filming or right as you go into rehearsals or right before something begins. And so a lot of the prep information that goes into developing the production, a DASL essentially has to really quickly download all of that information. They have to get up to speed much quicker than most folks who are part of the creative team. 

Pier Carlo: And presumably, I gather, you’re not paid for all the preparation you have to do before you show up on that first day.

Alexandria: Correct, yes.

Pier Carlo: So that needs to change.

Alexandria: Yes, it does need to change, absolutely. The amount of work that it takes to support that ongoing creative process and to support the actors who are doing the work that incorporates the sign language, whether they are native users of the language or have never signed but have to learn ASL along with the creative team, the amount of time that that can take, to just dive in head first and try to do all of that, it’s something that needs to be improved. And for a DASL to have an interpreter available, like for interpreted theater, for Deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences, it’s something that needs to improve. 

Usually, there’s just one interpreter or for a room. With mostly hearing and maybe two or three Deaf people, it’s just one interpreter, and they don’t get the breaks that most folks need and get. When everyone’s on break, oftentimes the interpreter’s still interpreting for those side conversations or those impromptu meetings that are production meetings. Sometimes it’s just side conversations. If they’re in a separate room, still doing some work, then if the interpreter has to go with someone else, I’m left without an interpreter, and so not everyone has an interpreter who’s available to them at all times to facilitate the communication.

For me, an interpreter is really not necessarily just for the Deaf or hard-of-hearing artists. They’re really there for the room; they’re there for everyone; they’re there for everyone who doesn’t know ASL. If you don’t know ASL, that means you need an interpreter to help you communicate with me. It’s really thinking about what we prioritize and the process with this Deaf person and what their experience is and how they interact with folks. There’s a lot more that goes into the process that has to be thought out. And also looking at the level of trust that you have to build and develop. 

It’s really hard when decisions are made without the Deaf individuals’ input into that space. So that’s a huge challenge.

Pier Carlo: What do you think could be done? I guess hiring more people, but is there another way that your work could be made easier in that regard?

Alexandria: It’s really about the education, and it has to be ongoing. Educating ourselves. Even just being open to admitting that you don’t know everything is OK. That’s preferable. That’s a good first step to saying, “Oh, you know what? I really don’t know everything about what is required.” And realizing what the possibilities are, what the potential is and maintaining the flexibility to adapt to those different needs that happen during the process. Initially at the onset it may look different than what everyone may have initially understood, but as you get comfortable and you start to build those connections and relationships with each other, you need to allow yourself the space to adapt.

In other words, you have to let go of the rigidity. There’s a rigidness that comes with trying to work with people, and the more time and energy that is spent on being rigid, the less time there is to spend on doing the work. So let me do my job. I know what I’m doing, and I know how to keep myself open to know what I need, to know how to ask for what I need, and I need folks to meet me halfway.

Also, the other thing is to put in the budget a line item. That line item — and it’s not just one line item; it’s several — it’s for access, one for, say, the DASL, making sure that that’s budgeted in. Because it’s just tough, it’s really tough to work in a space where the money’s run out, we don’t have the budget for it, it’s an afterthought. And it’s like, “Well, we should have started with that. Let’s start with the budget.”

Pier Carlo: How has your work as a DASL affected your work as a performer?

Alexandria: I think that as much as you or I should, there’s a huge gain to learn both sides of the table. There’s a huge gain to be had there, to take a step back and to have a bit more of an objective lens so as to understand what the other folks on the team as creatives are working with, what are the challenges that they’re dealing with. When you try to shift that perspective as an actress, then I understand, OK, what to ask for and how to ask for it, what to look for, how to work with my DASL, how to understand, how to communicate, how to engage with all the different people in this space.

Yeah, it’s huge. It’s just different. It’s just a different way of creating, of expressing. It’s a huge part of the work, knowing yourself and knowing why you’re in the room and what it is that I have to offer. I think, for me, it’s why I keep doing this work because until I’ve run out of things to offer, then I’ll keep showing up. I’ll keep showing up and pushing and trying to create those shifts in perspective and seeing how we can enhance the storytelling in different mediums.

Pier Carlo: Well, speaking of which, can you talk about any upcoming projects that you’re excited about and that you can share with us?

Alexandria: Well, I actually just did three episodes of “The Flash.” The character that I played, her name is Murmur. You have to see the episode; I don’t want to spoil it. It was really fun to play that character. She’s the bad guy. She’s a villain. She’s a super villain! She’s so bad. It’s horrible. But it was so much fun. It was really fun to play that character. And I do have another project coming up. Well, I have several, but I’m not at liberty to say, but I’m very excited about them all.