L-r: Lea Thompson, D.W. Moffett, Katie Leclerc,
Constance Marie, Ivonne Coll, Gilles Marini
We’ve talked before about how Switched at Birth is the first TV series to integrate deaf culture and American Sign Language into its weekly storyline, and how committed Constance Marie as become the interrelated clash of cultures (rich and poor, deaf and hearing, Latino and Anglo) that are central to the series. One of its best examples airs on Monday, in the first episode of the series told entirely from the point of view of the deaf members of the cast.
The ABC Family drama is well into its second season now, and from the beginning, Constance Marie, best known for being the light-hearted Mom on The George Lopez Show, has attacked her role as single mom Regina Vasquez with tremendous gusto. In a recent talk with Constance, she told us how the hard work has paid off in many ways…and changed her life.
“When I first read it,” she told us, “I was galvanized by it. I loved that my character was a survivor. Even though she had problems with alcohol and didn’t have as much money as everyone else, her daughter was the one who was raised properly. She was a wonderful role that represents Latino Moms and single Moms everywhere, and they deserve representation. I read it and thought, ‘I’m not sure I want to go back to work after having a baby, but if I do, this is the project I want to do.’”
Obviously Constance is already fluent in two languages, but given the premise of the show, the Latino aspects took a back seat to the clash between rich and poor and the clash between deaf and hearing. As Regina, she had to communicate in authentic, regionally accurate American Sign Language (ASL)–or actually SymCom, speaking and signing (smoothly) at the same time. Even more challenging, she had to play a hearing character who had been using ASL to communicate with her daughter for more than twelve years. She had to make it look easy.
“In the very beginning,” she told us. “I had absolutely no life. I didn’t want to offend the deaf community or the Latino community, or the large Latino deaf community that’s out there–I didn’t want to insult any of them, and I didn’t want to be half an actress. So I rehearsed in the shower, I rehearsed in my car. I rehearsed all the time, ‘cause I had to look like I’d done it for twelve years. And I was so good that they wrote even more scenes for me, and I ended up getting double tendonitis in my arms.”
What most people don’t know is that signing full-time, every day, is physically draining as well as mentally taxing. Katie Leclerc, the hearing-impaired woman who plays her daughter on the show, tried to warn her. “She said, ‘If you learn sign language as a student in school, you have no stress. But if you learn it later, as an adult, you have a 40% chance of getting arthritis. And I got tendonitis because I wasn’t learning like a regular person. I had to learn complete scenes in sign in a couple of days, and shoot for four hours straight. Even interpreters get breaks every twenty minutes. But it was just me, signing over and over and over again.” Eventually, doctors put Constance in a special arm restraints that limited her ability to gesture and sign.
“It’s all about family, and family is all about love, no matter how dysfunctional. We’re all just doing our best”
Katie Leclerc (Daphne Vasquez)
and Constance Marie (Regina Vasquez)
It was a painful time for her, both literally and figuratively. At home, her two-year-old daughter would ask, “Is this the boo-boo hand? Can I hold it?” On set, the writers began to work her injury into the second-season Switched at Birth scripts. “It’s a wonderful story line for the deaf,” she says now. “Every parent suffers separation when a teenager pulls away, and we have that happening with the ASL, too, because Regina’s injured, and she can’t communicate with her daughter And the thing is, Regina promised that she would never leave Daphne alone in the hearing world ever but because of the injury, she had to.” Constance actually had to pause when she told us the story. “It’ll make me cry,” she said. “The sad statistic is that 70% of parents of deaf kids don’t learn sign language. But I just couldn’t do it anymore. I couldn’t turn doorknobs, start my car, do my hair. It’s slowly getting better, but with tendonitis you have to stop everything; I even have to wear the appliance when I sleep. But right now, it’s awesome for the story line, and we’re going with that.” In recent episodes, and in the all-ASL episode in March, viewers will see how Regina and Daphne deal with the injury.
Switched at Birth has become more than just a job for Constance Marie; it’s become a cause, a way of life. “The working Moms of America deserve a fucking monument,” she told us. “And yeah, I said ‘fucking.’ My own OB said it best: ‘Some days I feel like an amazing parent and a horrible doctor; other days, I feel like a horrible parent and amazing doctor.” It’s hard for every single Mom. I’m a product of a divorced working mother myself, and I learned: the buck stops here. And the show is homage to my own single working Mom.”
And Constance is proud of her work on Switched at Birth and the effect it’s already had on the audience. “I know already they’ve taken away a knowledge of ASL and the deaf community; they’re people just like us. I hope they also take away the message that just because you’re affluent doesn’t mean you don’t have any problems and just because you’re poor doesn’t mean you can be written off. It’s all about family, and family is all about love, no matter how dysfunctional. We’re all just doing our best.”
The special episode of Switched at Birth premieres Monday, March 4 at 8P on ABC Family, and will show again on March 11 at 7P. You can also see some of the recent episodes on line here, at ABCFamily.com.
