“I learned the most I ever have from a workshop in the 11 years I’ve been going to interpreting workshops.”
WHOLE LOTTA WORKSHOPS
Online Workshops Presented by Alek Lev (NIC-Master, CI/CT)
Read the Testimonials
We all talk about the movies. And with the recent successes of Deaf actors and artists on screen, we now find ourselves interpreting about the movies as well. For those looking to interpret for and about film production, or who are simply curious about the process, The Language of Film takes interpreters through every step of filmmaking, beginning with story development and screenwriting, and moving onto casting, pre-production, production, post-production and release. Filmmakers speak their own language from slug lines, storyboards, and gaffers to 180-degree lines, acting adjustments, cinematography, and, more broadly, to screenwriting, editing, and directing. We will also answer that most vexing question: what does a producer actually do? This workshop is presented by Alek Lev, a writer, editor, producer, and director, and a certified American Sign Language interpreter (NIC-Master, CI/CT). Alek’s recent feature film, WHAT? was produced by Deaf entrepreneurs and artists, with a Deaf cast, a Deaf cinematographer and crew, and even a Deaf caterer. Alek will use his personal experience — directing a film where the primary on-set language was ASL — to introduce interpreters to the specialized language of film.
The Language of Film: Interpreting for and about Film Production
Live presentations available to Sorenson employees. Check workshop listings.
When do interpreters actually stop and think about that other language… English? ASL interpreters spend a full 50 percept of their working day using and understanding English, but how much time do they spend studying the language? We agree that we are better interpreters for knowing the history of American Sign Language — how it defines a culture, how it has changed and grown over time, and how oppression has influenced its users. Wouldn’t knowing the history of English make us better interpreters still? This webinar provides a fresh perspective on the language -- its usage and variety of users, its history and cultural relevance, and how our use impacts the quality of our interpreted interactions. For many of us, English is our native language, and we rely on an “unconscious competence” to get us through our days. But in this workshop, join writer, director, and recovering English major Alek Lev on a romp through the language of the Canterbury Tales, William Shakespeare, Lady Gaga, and beyond, and uncover the history of English, and why interpreters should care.
A History of the English Language … and Why Interpreters Should Care
Live presentations available to Sorenson employees. Check workshop listings.
You take someone else’s words, thoughts, emotions, beliefs, and intentions, and you express them in your own voice. Are you a professional American Sign Language Interpreter working with a consumer or... are you an actor working with a script? Actors and interpreters have similar challenges; they want their “audience” to have an emotional response to their words, and that will never happen if they seems mechanical or robotic, or simply reciting a text without appearing to have a motivation and history behind it. Instead, actors and interpreters must strive to create the “illusion of the first time,” when the words expressed appear to be alive, original, and backed by intention. This workshop, presented by actor, director, and interpreter Alek Lev, examines the overlap between these two professions, and presents acting tools that interpreters can use to better express the content and spirit of a message, including character study, text analysis, physical presentation, and vocal control and power. Interpreters have long debated whether or not interpreting is acting. It is. It just shouldn’t be bad acting.
Acting Tools for Terps: A Crash Course in Sounding Human
(On-Demand ASL coming this year.)
Live presentations available to Sorenson employees. Presented as part of a 4-hour workshop called “Interpreting Politics.” Check workshop listings.
The Interpreting Politics Series introduces interpreters to the language of American politics, with democracy and Democrats, the republic and Republicans, the election and the electoral college, constituents, primaries, the commander-in-chief, and of course, gerrymandering. In this session, we focus on THE CONGRESS, reviewing its constitutional powers, the roles of senators and representatives, how a bill becomes — or doesn’t become — a law, and much more. There are no super-secret signs for these concepts that you just never learned; these workshops teach the meaning of political terms, and together, we discuss how we might interpret them into American Sign Language.
Interpreting Politics: The Congress
(On-Demand ASL coming this year.)
Live presentations available to Sorenson employees. Presented as part of a 4-hour workshop called “Interpreting Politics.” Check workshop listings.
The Interpreting Politics Series introduces interpreters to the language of American politics, with democracy and Democrats, the republic and Republicans, the election and the electoral college, constituents, primaries, the commander-in-chief, and of course, gerrymandering. In this session, we focus on THE PRESIDENT, including the constitutional and traditional definitions of the office and its powers, the process of primaries, caucuses, and the electoral college that selects the president, and a quick review of current issues in the presidency. There are no super-secret signs for these concepts that you just never learned; these workshops teach the meaning of political terms, and together, we discuss how we might interpret them into American Sign Language.
Interpreting Politics: The President
The Interpreting Politics Series introduces interpreters to the language of American politics, with democracy and Democrats, the republic and Republicans, the election and the electoral college, constituents, primaries, the commander-in-chief, and of course, gerrymandering. In this session, we focus on THE COURT AND THE CONSTITUTION, examining the structure and role of the Supreme Court, its processes, opinions, dissents, and how its decisions interact with the law and the Constitution. We also review The Bill of Rights — the first ten amendments to the Constitution — and other amendments that affect our everyday lives as Americans, and explore how the Supreme Court interprets the Constitution in its rulings. There are no super-secret signs for these concepts that you just never learned; these workshops teach the meaning of political terms, and together, we discuss how we might interpret them into American Sign Language.
Interpreting Politics: The Court and The Constitution
The Interpreting Politics Series introduces interpreters to the language of American politics, with democracy and Democrats, the republic and Republicans, the election and the electoral college, constituents, primaries, the commander-in-chief, and of course, gerrymandering. In this session, we strap on our helmets and focus on PARTIES AND IDEOLOGY. What does it mean to be “liberal” or “conservative” in the 21st Century? What are the priorities of the Democratic and Republican parties? What are the major politics issues of the day and what about political beliefs that don’t align with either major party? And maybe most vexing of all: What challenges arise when you interpret for something against your own political beliefs? There are no super-secret signs for these concepts that you just never learned; these workshops teach the meaning of political terms, and together, we discuss how we might interpret them into American Sign Language.
Interpreting Politics: Parties and Ideology
About the Presenter
Alek Lev is a nationally certified American Sign Language interpreter (NIC-Master, CI, CT), a director, actor, and writer, and a political organizer. He has interpreted for three presidents, two Broadway shows, and one Beatle. Over the last twenty years, he has worked freelance in New York and Los Angeles, has taught translation at California State University at Northridge, and has presented CEU workshops to interpreters all around the country.
Alek trained at The National Theatre of the Deaf’s Professional Theatre School, and stage managed, interpreted, and performed on to tour with their children’s theater, The Little Theatre of the Deaf. In Los Angeles, he has worked with Deaf West Theatre, appearing in Romeo and Juliet and Flowers for Algernon, directing their Much Ado About Nothing workshop, and rehearsal interpreting for Spring Awakening, At Home at the Zoo, and American Buffalo. In 2020, Alek directed a workshop of the opera, Dialogues of the Carmelites with a cast of Deaf and hearing actors at Victory Hall Opera House in Virginia. In 2022, Alek returns to the opera to co-direct a full production of Orpheus with Deaf and hearing performers.
Alek is the writer/director of the film, WHAT? – a black and white, silent (and signing) feature-length comedy starring deaf and hearing actors. He also wrote, directed, and edited the feature film Ready or Not, and co-starred in the Independent Spirit Award-winning film, Conventioneers. He has appeared on television in How I Met Your Mother, Miami Medical, and I’m Dying Up Here. For four years, Alek was the New Media Director for How I Met Your Mother, where he produced and hosted their official podcast. He is currently the producer and co-host of iHeart Media’s podcast, Meeting Tom Cruise. Alek’s work in film and theater inspired the development of his workshops, ACTING TOOLS FOR TERPS: A CRASH COURSE IN SOUNDING HUMAN and THE LANGUAGE OF FILM: INTERPRETING FOR AND ABOUT FILM PRODUCTION
Alek also worked on several presidential campaigns, functioning as a campaign surrogate, congressional district team coordinator, city-wide training director, precinct captain organizer, and special project assistant to the State and Field Directors. He also ran - alas, unsuccessfully - to join his local community council. He has interpreted for Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates. His political experience (and mild obsession) led to the creation of the POLITICS WORKSHOP SERIES.
Alek graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Wesleyan University with a BA in Theater and English. His love of that other language that interpreter don’t think enough about prompted the creation of A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, AND WHY INTERPRETERS SHOULD CARE.
