Overview

Timeless Masks, Local Voices is an accessible video podcast series reimagining commedia dell’arte for contemporary audiences. Each episode features a artist embodying a classic stock character such as Arlecchino or Pantalone through mask, improvisation, and physical theatre. Filmed in community spaces, these in-character interviews blend satire, archetypes, and lived experience, while behind-the-scenes segments highlight rehearsal, mask fitting, and collaborative creation. The project centers Deaf-led accessibility practices, making an historically exclusive art form newly inclusive and culturally relevant.

Themes

• Archetypes and identity

• Community storytelling

• Cultural preservation

• Deaf accessibility in media

Languages

• American Sign Language (ASL)

• Deaf interpreter-led translations

• Creative Captioning

• Spoken English