If you would like to add quote/comments about Trix's performance in this website, please feel free to send an email to Trix at Info@trixbruce.com.
"Thanks,
Trix for a superb performance at our annual storytelling event.
The pictures that you painted with your use of ASL were spectacular.
We laughed out loud at the comedy and were moved to tears with the
drama. You are truly poetry in motion!"
Greg Camp,
President, Virginia Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf
"Dear
Trix, In finally having an opportunity to address a note to you
regarding your September 27, 2002 performance on our campus at
Fresno State, let me thank you from the bottom of my heart. We
were absolutely thrilled to have had you on our campus, pouring out
your creativity and energy on the children in attendance that
day. The local teachers, faculty on campus and I were floored
by the impact of your performance on the children. I want to
compliment you for the ingenious way that you involved them in your
show. You created a three-dimensional amusement park, an
alter-reality; a separate world for them to participate in. They
entered a safe environment where creativity is tried, and practiced.
And through this creative world, we saw our children flourish.
They stretched their creative muscles, and awakened new facets of
their intellects. Bravo. You are an inspiration to our
teachers; a positive pied piper as one who entreated our children to
dream, while leading them in a safe place: home. Thank you.
"
|
"A
fabulous, top notch performer and artist! National and international
audiences, look out, she's taking the world by storm!"
Glenace
L. Humphrey, RID Region IV Representative
"Fascinating
performance, uniquely done and a new experience for jaded theater
goers. The theater was packed to the rafters. "
Michael Izak
"Trix, you are an
excellent talent. I thoroughly enjoyed your One Deaf-woman show last
night in Vancouver. It is one that I would gladly see again. Keep up
the good works, and keep touching audiences with your beautiful
expressiveness and open, honest heart. Kenan did an excellent job
with his part of the show. You two make a great team. Thank you!"
Marianne Decher, Portland, Oregon
"Hi
Trix, Just a note to let you know how truly fascinating we found your
performance last Sat. in Vancouver. So intriguing! From the
nightmares involving Elephants, all the way to the Metamorphosis at the
end, we were mesmerized. A friend of ours is taking ASL at college, and
she asked us to accompany her to your show. Not having any idea what
we were going to see, we went. And were we surprised. Not just
that you are a red-head, but that the content was so.o.o.o
interesting, and (thanks to the superb job done by Kenan) so meaningful to
those of us who only regularly communicate in one language. Keep up the
'fun' work. (Is that an oxymoron?) Thanks again for a great time,"
Norm & Shirley
Vader
Christine
Anderson, Vancouver, WA
Shanda
Miller, President of WA ASLTA , Seattle, Washington
"Hi
Trix; I just
wanted to let you know how much I appreciated your show the other night.
I can't believe how much it helped to improve the confidence my ASL I
students had in themselves. They understood more sign than they
thought they would. The parents of my students were thrilled with
the show. Entertained and they enjoyed themselves very much!!
My ASL III students were also pleased. They loved you energy,
enthusiasm and stage presence. They had already heard much of the
information, but loved the format and the performance.
Thank you sooooo much for coming to Skyline to perform for us!!!"
Cozette Amador, American Sign Language Instructor, Skyline
High School, Sammamish, WA
"Trix,
Just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed you sharing you thoughts
and life experiences with us, the audience, last Saturday evening. My wife
is currently working towards her ASL license and wanted me to go with her,
this being a very new experience for me. I found both enjoyable and
enlightening. Thank you for a wonderful evening." Matthew
"Trix Bruce came to the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind this Spring and it was a rare treat.
Watching the kids watch Trix I was struck by their rapt attention. It was like they were under a spell. Her content was neither trendy nor sensational, just the stuff of everyday life: trees, butterflies, bugs and people. She talked about nature – human and otherwise. Her subjects ranged from the concrete and broad – a golf game, jokes in a restaurant - to the abstract and intimate – disability, identity, self-esteem.
And
yet these often fidgety and unfocused students had become veritable
jumping beans of readiness, volunteering over and over again for
- they didn’t know what exactly- anything she asked of them.
These students who spend so much of their time being prompted and
cued seemed ready to improvise their lines in front of
everyone. What
accounted for them “getting” her directions on the first try? She’s some kind of magician, I thought, she had
cast a spell on the audience.
Well,
if this was a spell what was the incantation and why were so many of the
hearing people not falling under it?! (Those attending in anticipation of
the interpreter training the
following day were not itching with volunteerism). Only later did it occur
to me – it wasn’t just Trix, it was the language – ASL.
It was the proverbial shoe fitting like a glove – to mix a
metaphor. Trix had come to
deliver a program that suited exactly the intended audience.
For the Deaf students she offered an uplifting and empowering dose
of art in their natural language. For
the hearing interpreters and teachers she offered a challenging and
practical tutorial in non-manual grammatical markers.
As a performance artist Trix uses not only her hands, but every facial feature and body part to knead and massage ASL grammar into the supple tool of a keen mind. As a poet she adds inflections of tempo and such a nuanced use of space that the same ASL grammar becomes the bold tool of a brave and generous heart. ASL that is so beautiful, powerful and mysterious can seem unknowable, unlearnable. If I’d left this performance awestruck and dumbfounded and in denial that even I, a hearing speech therapist, could learn ASL I would have missed the point. It would have meant falling under a different spell - the unfortunate deception that it takes some kind of innate knack or gift, or at the very a least significant hearing loss, to learn ASL. But unlike a magician who guards the secrets of his trade, Trix came to make ASL accessible and available.
Like Dorothy discovering the Wizard in Oz she threw back the veil and revealed what it takes to use ASL effectively, if not artistically. She began with a thorough and on-going study of linguistics and followed that up with methodical and vigorous PRACTICE. She said that a lot: PRACTICE. I can’t overstate the emphasis she placed on PRACTICE in developing the skills that will make ASL look magical on your hands. Because…here’s the secret, folks: there’s no magic. There’s just heart, and intention and effort and PRACTICE. The trick is getting people to “get” that. And Trix pulls that trick off - like magic."
Linda Jones-Oleson, Speech
Therapist, Virginia School for the Deaf, Stanton, VA
"Trix performs her
stories with emotion and beauty. She clearly communicates the
challenges and the joys of living in a Deaf world. There is always
something new to learn through Trix. She is well worth seeing."Lynn
Chun
Christina Fluet, Merrimac, MA