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Part of a collection of interviews made for a film on ASL poetry, "The Heart of the Hydrogen Jukebox." In this interview, Deaf poet Robert Panara explains how his interest in writing poetry started when he was 15 or 16 and in high school. He continued writing poetry when he attended Gallaudet and won prizes for his work. Upon graduation from Gallaudet, he began teaching at the Fanwood School for the Deaf as an English instructor where he established a Drama Club and met Bernard Bragg as a student. Gallaudet offered him an English teaching position where he again saw his student, Bernard Bragg! Gallaudet had a literary club where they put on two-hour shows every month. Later, Patrick Graybill joined in as well. When Panara taught poetry, he tried to incorporate drama, interpretation, and ham acting to bring out the poem's message, meaning, and feeling to the students. Panara believes that "becoming the poem, or the book" is important to get students involved and interested in poetry. In 1966, the National Theater of the Deaf (NTD) was established and he taught Theatre History and Signed Poetry classes for five years. Bragg was there, and once again, they worked together. He met Dorothy Miles and they would sign poetry, following the English language but incorporating ASL and mime features. At NTID where he started in 1967, Panara wore a lot of different hats. He taught Literature on the RIT side and also taught Drama, English, and Literature at NTID. After retiring from theatre, he taught fulltime at RIT classes like Shakespeare, Modern Poetry, the American Novel, and later Deaf Studies such as Deaf Characters in Literature. The Deaf students were so enthusiastic which led to a lot of discussions. They would talk about the Deaf experience and how similar they were to the character in the story, novel or play. They also talked about whether their experiences were different. In 1969 when Panara set up the Drama Club, there were no buildings to use. They used the Webb a

NTID professor emeritus and renowned Deaf poet Robert Panara recites his poem "NTID" on the occasion of the inauguration (1992) of Dr. Albert Simone as President of the Rochester Institute of Technology.

"The Lady or The Tiger Story Performed by Dr. Robert F. Panara 1985 SUMMARY OF PERFORMANCE [summarized by Joan Naturale] This story, The Lady or The Tiger, by Frank Stockton is performed in sign language by Dr. Panara. The story is about a king who set up a system to determine whether a prisoner was guilty or not guilty of a crime. The public was invited to the arena where the king sat on a throne. In front of the throne were two doors. Behind one door was a ferocious tiger, and behind the other, a beautiful lady. The prisoner had to choose a door, and if he chose the tiger, he was mauled to death and determined to be guilty. If he chose the lady, the King would host a wedding feast, as the prisoner was determined to be innocent. The King had a beautiful daughter, a Princess, who fell in love with a handsome man from the lower class. They had a secret relationship for several months until the King found out about it and became angry. He arrested his daughter’s boyfriend and he appeared in the arena to choose a door. The Princess found out what was behind the doors and would give a clue to her boyfriend. The beautiful lady behind the door once showed an interest in the boyfriend. The Princess sat next to her father and moved her hand to the right to indicate the right door to choose for him. What was behind the door? Did the Princess choose the tiger, a quick but brutal and bloody death, or the lady, whom he would marry?"

The video shows Allen Ginsberg and the interpreter, Kip Webster to his left. Allen Ginsberg discusses the influence of Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams who emphasized the pictorial aspects in poetry. Ginsberg performs the poem, "Howl", and discusses translation issues for some abstract concepts, such as "angel-headed hipster", and "starry dynamo". He also talks about surrealism in poetry and continues to recite his poem. Patrick Graybill translates in ASL "hydrogen jukebox" and captured the image clearly. Graybill also performed the poem Dreams by Langston Hughes and the ASL translation process. Ginsberg suggests that Panara translate "The Red Wheelbarrow" by William Carlos Williams and writes the poem on the board. After discussion of the poem's meaning, Panara translates the poem. The video ends with Ginsberg performing "BirdBrain" accompanying himself with a harmonium.

Jim Cohn refers to a 1984 February 1 video when Allen Ginsberg visited and presented in a NTID classroom. The captions on this video were typed in teletypewriter (TTY) style. There are excerpts of the historic meeting of the poets Dr. Robert Panara, and Allen Ginsberg. The first excerpt shows Panara performing his most famous poem, “On His Deafness”. Cohn discusses the “Golden Age Poets” from the 1930-1950s Gallaudet era and Ginsberg’s affiliation with the Beat poets. The next excerpt is Ginsberg discussing Patrick Graybill’s concept of poetry as a picture and idea similar to the work of the 20th century Imagist poets, William Carlos Williams and Ezra Pound with an emphasis on imagery in their works. These poets had a lot of influence on free verse. Ginsberg states that the best poems that translates into other languages are those that have pictures, which is also best for Deaf people, as there is less emphasis on sounds and rhymes. Cohn then discusses how a clear and strong image can be translated between languages and cultures and an excerpt of Ginsberg reciting his favorite lines from the “Howl” poem is shown. Graybill asks why he chose those two words “hydrogen jukebox” and Ginsberg explains its apocalyptic meaning—the noise of the jukebox is like the bomb. Ginsberg asks whether “hydrogen jukebox” could be shown in sign language and in a stunning moment, Graybill translates “hydrogen jukebox”. Ginsberg realized that Graybill had captured the word-image visually. Cohn ends the presentation by discussing the legitimacy of ASL poetry, and quotes Earl Sollenberger, “you have to know what your tribe is speaking.” He shares the story of a Deaf boy who said, “it’s not NTID, it’s ATID.” When Cohn asked him what he meant, the boy replied, “A tribe is Deaf!” Sign interpreted by Kip Webster. [summary by Joan Naturale]

Robert F. Panara is a legendary professor of English, literature, and theater. He is also known as a poet, historian, drama-club coach, and authority on deaf figures in literature. Shot at Johnson County Community College (Kansas) in 1984 during a workshop Dr. Panara was conducting, the production is divided into two parts. In the first, Panara provides an overview of the establishment of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID), for which he was hired as the first deaf professor, and how he taught both deaf and hearing students in the same class. He also started the theater department at NTID and helped found the National Theatre of the Deaf. In the second part, he performs creative interpretation of literature in sign language, including his own On His Deafness.Dr. Panara demonstrates how he has inspired countless others to tackle the supposedly "inaccessible" and "challenging" literary genre of poetry and make it fun and enriching.

The video shows Allen Ginsberg and the interpreter, Kip Webster to his left. Allen Ginsberg discusses the influence of Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams who emphasized the pictorial aspects in poetry. Ginsberg performs the poem, "Howl", and discusses translation issues for some abstract concepts, such as "angel-headed hipster", and "starry dynamo". He also talks about surrealism in poetry and continues to recite his poem. Patrick Graybill translates in ASL "hydrogen jukebox" and captured the image clearly. Graybill also performed the poem Dreams by Langston Hughes and the ASL translation process. Ginsberg suggests that Panara translate "The Red Wheelbarrow" by William Carlos Williams and writes the poem on the board. After discussion of the poem's meaning, Panara translates the poem. The video ends with Ginsberg performing "BirdBrain" accompanying himself with a harmonium.

Kenny Lerner and Peter Cook (Flying Words Project duo) wrote a NY Humanities grant for this Writers and Books event, inviting Eric Malzkuhn to present on sign poetry. Robert Panara introduced Malz and talked about his groundbreaking poem, Jabberwocky, famous for his creative use of sign language. Malz was also involved in a sign language performance of the Broadway play, Arsenic and Old Lace and in the National Theatre of the Deaf. Malz shares how he became deaf and attended Michigan School for the Deaf where he learned sign language. He describes performing Jabberwocky and getting involved with Arsenic and Old Lace. After sharing more stories, he plays a game with the audience encouraging creative self-expression. He signs a poem, "The Cat" in PSE, ASL, and the 'Malz' way. He then performs a San Francisco poem using fingerspelling to show the unique features of the city. Finally, he performs the poem, "If I were a King" in ASL and the 'Malz' way.

The video shows Dr. Panara explaining lyric poetry and plucking the strings of a lyre to demonstrate the five senses. He discusses sense imagery and asks students what they see, hear, feel, taste, and smell when they visit the seashore in preparation for the poem "Sea Fever" by John Masefield. The rhythm, alliteration, and rhyming structure of the poem are analyzed. He translates some phrases in the poem and explains why he uses particular signs and non-manual features for those signs.

Dr. Panara discusses the vocabulary, analyzes similes and metaphors, and notes themes from several poems with a Deaf class, including John Masefield's "The West Wind," Robert Herrick's "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time," and Shakespeare's "O Mistress Mine."

Jack Smith, former Director of Public Information at NTID, introduces Robert F. Panara, an NTID Deaf professor who has managed the Experimental Educational Theatre, Drama Club, and involved with the founding of The National Theatre of the Deaf and NTID's Director, William E. Castle, a strong supporter of theatre. Panara explains that the Drama Club performs two shows per quarter and up to fifty students are involved with the performances, either as actors, artists, set designers, stage construction crew, and promotional activities. Asked to define sign mime, Panara says it's like "painting pictures in the air". Castle explains that theatre is an important educational tool that Deaf students respond to as they can express themselves freely. Three works are performed by seven students in the Drama Club: an excerpt from Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters, Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll, and Haiku Japanese poems. The student performers are: Charles 'Chuck' Baird, Betti (Elizabeth) Bonni, Debbie Helwig, Thomas Orscher, Donald Stoops, Miriam Sotomayor, and Glenn Stewart. In the first performance, Spoon River, it opens up with six bodies lying on the stage and Betti Bonni starts to narrate the excerpt. When she is done, individual performers stand up and take turns reciting the excerpt in sign language. The second performance shows Thomas Orscher performing Jabberwocky. The third and final performance shows individual performances signing Haiku poems.

Dr. Robert Panara starts out by presenting Japanese Haiku poems. He fingerspells the poem, and then acts it out using sign transliteration, body language, and facial expressions. The next poem he signs is Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost, continues with a poem by Robert Burns, A Red, Red Rose, and the Star-Spangled Banner song by. Next he provides a signed rendition of Marc Antony's famous speech Friends, Romans, and Countrymen, Lend Me Your Ears by Shakespeare after Caesar's death. Finally, he signs his famous poem, On His Deafness (modelled after John Milton's On His Blindness)

The experience of the deaf writer in America from Colonial Times to the present has closely parelleled that of countless others who have followed the American dream of fulfillment through opportunity. The study of this representative pioneer is the story of his struggle with the realities of deafness, with the ever-changing milieu, and with his attempt to contribute to the cultural growth of America. And the struggle for recognition is increasing with the tempo of the times., Published in two parts; the first in July 1970 and the second in nNovember 1970.