Visual-Gestural Communication

Willy Conley is a professor of Theatre and Dance at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC. He is is an award-winning playwright whose work has appeared in American Theatre, Theatre for Young Audiences Today, Stages of Transformation and numerous anthologies. He specializes in teaching visual-gestural communication to undergraduate and graduate deaf, hard-of-hearing, and hearing students. His publications include Listening Through the Bone: Collected Poems (2018), The Deaf Heart: A Novel (2015) and Vignettes of the Deaf Character and Other Plays (2009).

Part 1: Introduction 1. Inherent Benefits 2. An Abridged, Concise, (Perhaps Quirky) History On Gestures 3. Gesture-Sign Language Connections 4. Gesture and Pantomime in Theatre 5. Nonverbal Applications 6. Some Iconic Gestures in Culture, Film, and TV 7. Self-Awareness Part 2: Warm-ups, Icebreakers, & Exercises 1. Physical Warm-Ups and Icebreakers 2. Facial Expression Exercises 3. Visual Exercises 4. Visual-Gestural Exercises Part 3: Visual-Gestural Communication Assignments 1. Your Gestural Introduction 2. Personal Coat of Arms 3. Universal Gestures 4. International Sign 5. Random Universal Phrases/Questions 6. Weekend Highlight in Universal Gestures 7. Cirque du Soleil: Nouvelle Experience 8. Body Language 9. Some Basic Hand Orientations for Two-Dimensional (2D) Gestures 10. Developing a Pantomime With Two-Dimensional (2D) Gestures 11. Abstract Two-Dimensional (2D) Gestures 12. Practice With Basic Three-Dimensional (3D) Hand Shapes: Objects 13. Creating Three-Dimensional (3D) Objects 14. Continued Practice With Three-Dimensional (3D) Hand Shapes: Buildings and Structures 15. Arrangement of Related Objects 16. Repeating Patterns 17. Angles & Perspectives 18. Environmental Gestures 19. Cooking Up a Storm 20. Character Description 21. Character Icons 22. Animal Character Description 23. Vehicle Gestures 24. Visual Vernacular -- an Aspect Using Body Movement Designators Part 4: Projects 1. Playwriting, and Performing With Gestures and Movement 2. Gestures in the Work World 3. Creating an Original, Visual, Nonverbal, Comical Script a la Mr. Bean 4. Assessing Your Facial Expressions 5. Facial Storytelling 6. Visual Nonverbal Comical Script a la Mr. Bean 7. Performance Reaction Paper 8. Visual-Gestural Translation of a Haiku 9. Re-enacting Little Miss Muffet in Gestures & Movement 10. Two Crows Project 11. Visual Theatre Project 12. Research Project 13. Final Project Part 5: Bibliography