The award-winning Deaf West Theatre has the World Premiere of WHAT ARE YOU…DEAF?, a solo play written by and starring actor/writer/performance artist C. J. Jones. This new work is an insightful, comedic portrait of a man who is both Deaf and African American, confronting the sometimes absurd misperceptions that transpire between the hearing and the deaf. WHAT ARE YOU…DEAF? opened at Deaf West’s NoHo Arts District venue on Friday, May 14 at 8:00pm (running through June 20).

Directed by Steve Rothman (former artistic director of the Pasadena Playhouse), Deaf West’s production of WHAT ARE YOU…DEAF? is planned as the first in an ongoing series of one-person shows that "give voice to the Deaf experience". Jones is one of many gifted deaf artists who have developed and presented solo works that have become a staple for deaf communities and cultural centers across the country.

In WHAT ARE YOU…DEAF?, C.J. Jones blends his unique style of visual imagery and storytelling. Combining voice, American Sign Language (ASL) and mime, along with recorded music and multi-media projections, Jones paints colorful, riveting pictures of his life experiences, revealing what it was like to grow up in a tough St. Louis neighborhood, in the shadow of his deaf Golden Gloves champion boxer dad and on through the challenges faced during his quest to make it as a comedian and actor in Hollywood.