Signs of Christmas by Rocco B. Colella, Globe Correspondent, December 11, 2005

You can't beat a front-row seat. Bonnie Kaplan, cultural access director for VSA Arts of Massachusetts and a member of what she calls the deaf community, says the seats at the Stoneham Theatre are so close to the stage she feels a part of the play.

And with two American Sign Language interpreters standing on stage along with the actors at this Friday's performance of ''A Christmas Story," she and other deaf people will have an even stronger link to the show.

By offering an ASL-interpreted performance, Stoneham Theatre is creating awareness, said Kaplan. ''That is how you build an audience," she said.

This won't be the first time interpreters have shared the Stoneham stage with actors. Earlier this year, the theater's production of ''Dracula" featured an ASL-interpreted show, as will ''Seven Rabbits on a Pole" in March.

For the 2006-07 season, there will be an interpreted performance for each production, said Jon White-Spunner, the theater's managing director. ''That's our pledge."

White-Spunner, who has been at the theater for more than a year, received a request when he arrived from a deaf person who could not fully enjoy the theater experience. Kaplan, whose organization tries to increase access for the disabled to entertainment venues, set up a system to accommodate hearing-impaired patrons.

Implementing the program, which included finding cost-effective ways to obtain interpreters and have them a part of select performances, took longer than it should have, said Kaplan. But she applauds the Stoneham Theatre's continuing efforts. ''That's a really terrific commitment," she said.

Kim Dyer, an ASL interpreter who works with Kaplan, explained that most interpreted stage performances use two or three interpreters who appear on stage or slightly off to the side. Since one interpreter may have to convey the lines for as many as 10 parts, differentiating the characters is crucial. Depending on the flexibility of the director, some interpreters are costumed along with the actors on stage, she said.

''There are over 50 million people in this country with disabilities," Kaplan said. ''Stoneham Theatre is setting a good example for other local theaters. It is a work in progress. Maybe a next goal would be to have audio descriptions for the blind."

David Hough, director of marketing and development at the theater, said the energy level changes in the audience when an interpreter is in the house. ''Even in the way they applaud, it creates another dimension," he said. ''The rest of the audience, seeing the interpreter, can see that there are deaf people among them who are watching the interpreters and still want to go to the theater."

About 25 deaf patrons attended the interpreted performance of ''Dracula." Word-of-mouth from those performances is expected to boost the number for ''A Christmas Story." Seating for the deaf will be reserved in the front three rows, said White-Spunner.

The Stoneham Theatre was built as a movie house in 1917 and was a popular venue for movies and vaudeville acts for 50 years. It closed in the 1970s and remained unoccupied until the Symes Family Foundation unveiled a two-year restoration plan to transform the site into a state-of-the-art performance center. The building reopened in 2000 and the Stoneham Theatre company was born. Its first show was another holiday classic, ''A Christmas Carol."

This year's holiday performance is a stage version of the 1983 film ''A Christmas Story." Adapted by Philip Grecian, the play follows the story line of the screenplay, with Ralphie's desire for a Red Ryder BB gun, his father's obsession with his prized leg lamp, and an unfortunate tongue on an icy flagpole.

''The holiday season is very important to us," said White-Spunner, adding that Stoneham Theatre sees a large chunk of its ticket revenue around this time of year.

Kaplan said the deaf community does not expect every show to offer an ASL performance, and that it will be important to get feedback from deaf people to figure out what they want to see. Ideally, she said, an interpreted play would include less dialogue and more action.

White-Spunner said his goal is to give deaf audiences as much choice as possible. ''We want to have one performance of every show interpreted so that everybody gets a chance to see what [he or she] wants to see," he said.