Flying Words Project comes to RIT/NTID Feb. 11

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The performance artist team of Kenny Lerner and Peter Cook present a unique combination of American Sign Language, spoken English, movement, visual theater and poetry throughout the renowned Flying Words Project.

The performance artist team of Peter Cook and Kenny Lerner presents a unique combination of American Sign Language, spoken English, movement, visual theater and poetry throughout the renowned Flying Words Project, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 11 at Panara Theatre, National Technical Institute for the Deaf, Rochester Institute of Technology. The performance is a tribute to Joe Flaherty, recently retired founding director of Writers and Books, Rochester’s literary center located in the Neighborhood of the Arts.

Cook, associate professor and chairperson for the ASL Department at Columbia College Chicago, and Lerner, senior lecturer for the NTID Liberal Arts team, have said that Flaherty has helped both of them throughout their careers, including through grant writing to help organize the first deaf poetry series in the United States in the 1980s, and providing space for traveling artists performing in Rochester. Cook and Lerner also credit Flaherty for helping them acquire national fame for the Flying Words Project.

The Flying Words Project has performed at various venues, including Manhattan Theater Club in New York City; Santa Barbara Museum of Art; the International Poetry Festival in the Netherlands; Harvard University; Cork Midsummer Festival in Cork, Ireland; and Poetry Day Festival in Riga, Latvia.

Admission is free for students with ID; $5 (cash only) for the general public. Tickets can be purchased at the door.

For more information, contact Joseph Fox, theatre production assistant and box office and house manager, NTID, at jwfnpa@rit.edu.