Deaf Side Story Deaf Side Story Deaf Side Story is a musical based on "West Side Story", itself an adaptation of William Shakespeare's play "Romeo and Juliet". Takes place in New York City during the mid-1950s, the musical based on West Side Story explores the rivalry between the two gangs Jets and the Sharks, two teenage street gangs of different cultural backgrounds (Deaf and Hearing). The members of the Sharks from Puerto Rico are taunted by the Jets, a white working-class group. The young protagonist, Tony, one of the Jets, falls in love with Maria, the sister of Bernardo, the leader of the
Deaf Side Story and Smith continued to explore the nature of their deaf and hearing collaboration as well as the intercultural connections between the Deaf and hearing communities. Deaf Side Story gave Brewer the opportunity to tell a story about two people who fall in love across a cultural-linguistic barrier. Language divided the Jets and the Sharks but brought Tony and Maria together as they began to use the same language. "Deaf Side Story Deaf Sharks, Hearing Jets and a Classic American Musical" by Mark Rigney, nominated for a Pushcart Prize, portrays the progress of the production of the musical. Rigney included everything