“CODA” is hitting the stage.
The Oscar-nominated Apple TV+ movie, about 17-year-old Ruby, the only hearing member in a deaf family, is being adapted into a stage musical at Los Angeles’ National Deaf Theatre, the production team announced Wednesday.
The film, directed by Siân Heder and starring Emilia Jones, Marlee Matlin, Troy Kotsur, Daniel Durant and Eugenio Derbez, earned three Academy Awards nominations, including best picture and best actor in a supporting role for Kotsur, who has won the category at the SAG, BAFTA and Critics Choice awards.
“In the movie there is a scene where the deaf members of the Rossi family, confronted with an inaccessible school performance, take in Ruby’s song through the joy of others in the audience. This is an opportunity, then, to bring the story full circle by bringing it back to members of the Deaf community and by making the music accessible through our signed and sung live adaptation of the movie,” DJ Kurs, the artistic director of Deaf West Theatre, said in a statement.
“It is in the mission of our organization to be the artistic bridge between the Deaf and hearing communities and we are truly excited and honored to embark on this live iteration of a story that brings together both sides of the aisle and addresses the ways that we move throughout the world.”
A creative team and cast has not yet been made public, but the announcement comes just days before the Oscars.
Deaf West Theatre has previously been recognized for Tony-nominated performances of “Spring Awakening” in 2016 and “Big River” in 2003.
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