Voting members of the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID) recently approved a Special Practice Paper on Interpreting For The Performing Arts. The paper seeks to provide “a framework for basic, respectable standards” when RID members are interpreting in a performance setting (e.g., theatre). In addition to a broad overview of performance interpreting, the paper discusses competencies, the interpreting team, resources, logistics, and related laws. The task force that authored the paper relied on the limited amount of available written information about performance interpreting – including the TerpTheatre website.
“When I first created terptheatre.org, there was nothing available online about theatre interpreting. This practice paper is a great start at formalizing our discussion about interpreting on stage” said TerpTheatre.com founder and author, Dan McDougall, CSC. Content authored by McDougall and posted on TerpTheatre.com has been cited by theatre professionals, interpreters, writers and students for decades – and is still utilized by interpreters trained by TerpTheatre.
McDougall is currently a PhD student in the Department of Interpretation at Gallaudet University, where he is studying interpreted theatre. With an award provided by Madonna University, McDougall is conducting research that he will publish in a variety of formats – including his dissertation.
[pl_button type=”primary” link=”https://terptheatre.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/PerformingArts_SPP.pdf?aea333″ target=”blank”]Read The Practice Paper[/pl_button]

Danny McDougall, PhD, CSC — “Dr. Danny” — owns and manages TerpTheatre. Since 1986, he has interpreted in hundreds of plays, musicals and other performances on stage – most in the shadowed style. He teaches and lectures on the theory and practice of theatre interpreting. Danny is the chair of Sign Language Studies at Madonna University, and holds a PhD in Translation and Interpretation from Heriot-Watt University – where his dissertation explored the relationship between space and meaning during interpreted theatre performances.