In celebration of the local Deaf Awareness Week, Peter Cook, an internationally recognized deaf performing artist, will give a concert and conduct a workshop at ETSU.”Feast for the Eyes: A Storytelling Evening with Peter Cook” will be presented on Friday, Oct. 9, at 7 p.m., in the Martha Street Culp Auditorium, located in the D.P. Culp University Center. The event is free and open to the public.

On Friday and Saturday, Oct. 9-10, Cook will offer a workshop of interest to those in the fields of interpreting, storytelling or theatre.

Cook will explore aspects of American Sign Language (ASL) storytelling and will provide opportunities for hands-on experience.

Co-sponsored by Northeast Tennessee Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (NETRID), the workshop will be held 1:30-4:45 p.m. on Friday and from 8:30 a.m. until 4:45 p.m. (with a lunch break) on Saturday in the ETSU Wayne G. Basler Center for Physical Activity’s second-floor multi-purpose room. Workshop participants will also attend Cook’s evening performance.

The fee for the workshop varies: $60 for general admission; $55 for members of Tennessee Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf; $50 for NETRID members; and $30 for any college student.

Voice interpreters will be provided at both the workshop and performance.

Cook is known for his performances incorporating ASL, pantomime, storytelling, acting and movement. He teaches at Chicago’s Columbia College.

In 1999, Cook established a video production company, PC Production, and he has traveled extensively promoting ASL literature through the Flying Words Project. He has appeared in two Public Broadcasting System programs – Live from Off Center’s “Words on Mouth” and “United States of Poetry.”

In demand as a storyteller, Cook has been featured at venues including the Jonesborough National Storytelling Festival, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and the Tales of Graz Festival in Austria.

In 2003, he was invited to the White House to join the National Book Festival.

Cook’s visit is sponsored by ETSU Silent Bucs, a student organization, along with NETRID, the ETSU Office of Disability Services, the Student Government Association, the ETSU Storytelling Program, and the Jonesborough Storytellers Guild.

For more information, contact Libby Tipton of Disability Services at tiptone@etsu.edu or call 439-8346.

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