In his Oscar-nominated performance in “CODA,” Troy Kotsur has one spoken line, but it’s a good one. Urging his daughter, played by Emilia Jones, to pursue her dreams of singing and attending college, he says aloud: “Go!”
For Kotsur, that one line meant lots of rehearsal plus the courage to, on a film set, speak dialogue he couldn’t himself hear. But Kotsur had also done it before. Years before, as Stanley Kowalski in a Deaf West Theatre production of “A Streetcar Named Desire,” he exclaimed “Stella!” night after night.
