By Courtney Bronson
Meat Expectations is not your typical musical. Developed entirely in American Sign Language from the ground up, the story wasn’t translated — it was born in ASL. This well-done, boundary-pushing production runs for ten performances, April 17 to 27, at Gallaudet University’s Eastman Black Box Studio Theatre. The show is fully accessible to both Deaf and hearing audiences with open captions and tactile music. A talkback will be hosted on April 17 and 18 with the original creators.
Set in a meat factory run by a Deaf family for four generations, the story kicks off when the family patriarch passes away. The new CEO — eager to modernize — tries to overhaul the factory with modern technology. It doesn’t go as planned, and there is beef.
The piece has been years in the making. Commissioned by New York Deaf Theatre (NYDT), development began in 2017 and is still evolving. This Gallaudet run marks the show’s final phase before its official New York City premiere with NYDT.
The team that developed this play is packed with well-known Deaf theater creatives: Lewis Merkin, JW Guido, Seth Gore, and Monique “MoMo” Holt are the core collaborators, with music by Deaf composer Jay Alan Zimmerman. Annie Wiegand has been a major part of the project since the start, with Emily Hart as stage manager and Mark Weissglass as assistant composer. Past contributors include James Caverly and Christina Cogswell.
Lewis Merkin, the head writer, passed away in March 2022, at age 66. A pioneer in Deaf theater, Merkin left behind a bold vision for how stories could be told. Lighting Designer and Producer Annie Wiegand recalled a conversation that sparked an idea:
“My dearly departed friend Lewis and I were bemoaning one day many years ago the fact that translating English to ASL is such a tedious process when working on new plays. And then we wondered what would happen if we could create a script in ASL first, and what that would look like.”
That question led to the ASL Script Workshop in 2016–2017, and from that sprang two ambitious projects: the musical Meat Expectations and Viscript — a software concept combining video, visuals, and script.
For this Gallaudet production, student actors are working from the original ASL script in video form, not a traditional printed one. Only the crew and creative team use translated English stage directions. This flips the usual process — the story was created in ASL from the start.
It’s a game-changer. In a field where Deaf artists often retrofit English scripts into ASL, Meat Expectations shows what is possible when ASL leads the process.
Co-directors of the Gallaudet production, MoMo Holt and Jules Dameron (Gallaudet alum ’03), lead the charge. Holt, a longtime NYDT artist and Gallaudet professor, and Dameron, NYDT’s artistic director and a veteran film/TV director, are guiding a full student cast — both current and alumni — through this landmark production.
Dameron shared that the biggest challenge was having no roadmap — everything had to be built from scratch. “But the surprise has been how natural it felt once we trusted ourselves to break rules. Watching Deaf performers completely own these larger-than-life characters, invent new ways of storytelling, and still hit emotional beats that land just as hard as a traditional musical? That’s been wildly rewarding. Also…the comedy. This cast is funny. Like, absurd, ridiculous, fearless funny.
The cast shared what this work means to them — and what they hope it gives back to the community:
What do you hope Deaf audiences will receive from this piece?
Many hope Deaf audiences feel seen — in the characters, the culture, and the care that went into every detail.
One actor called the show “Champ, very visual, and cool!” (Champ is a colloquial ASL expression used to describe someone or something as the very best — the top, the best of the best. It conveys excellence, mastery, or high achievement.)
“Meat Expectations is an original Deaf ASL-oriented musical where each step of the creative process has been guided by Deaf artists. The musical is unique in that it prioritizes ASL and authentic Deaf story-making throughout its development.”
“I hope audiences feel truly alive and deeply connected with every part of this play!”
“I hope that the Deaf audience receives motivation and inspiration from this production… to go out in the real world and make bold choices without anything holding them back.”
What is the importance of this piece for Deaf theatermakers?
It’s a milestone in Deaf-led storytelling — not just in content but in process.
“This is the first Deaf-created musical, and we have all worked so hard together on it.”
Another said it “shows what’s possible when accessibility and creativity come together.”
This production also tested a new approach to ASL-first scripting: a team of Deaf creatives turned their vision into a video playlist — a model for future visual scripts.
Anything else hearing folks should know?
“Everyone must adapt to us. Not the other way around.”
Meat Expectations invites all audiences into a world that’s bold, visual, funny — and fully Deaf-made.
Running Time: Two hours, plus a 10-minute intermission.
Meat Expectations plays April 17 to 27, 2027, in the Gilbert C. Eastman Studio Theatre at Gallaudet University, 800 Florida Ave NE, Washington, DC. Tickets (ages 8–12, free; high school and college students, $10; Gallaudet students, free with discount code; adults, $20) are available online, by email ([email protected]), or by calling 202-651-5501.
Access: Open captions and tactile music make the show fully accessible to both Deaf and hearing audiences.
Content Note: Set in a meat-packing factory; references to animal processing (no graphic content).
Effects: Uses haze, fog, and bright lights.
Courtney Bronson, hailing from California, is a senior at Gallaudet University double majoring in English and Theatre Arts. An aspiring playwright with a deep love for storytelling, she has written two plays — Opposite Day and Ghosted — both of which have received staged readings at Gallaudet. Courtney has also performed in
several university productions, including Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead/f, directed by Ethan Sinnott, and Autocorrect Thinks I’m Dead, directed by Monique “MoMo” Holt. Outside of the theater, she enjoys line dancing and watching The Rookie on Hulu.