Words, Signs & Vibes is a performing arts

Performing arts

The performing arts are those forms art which differ from the plastic arts insofar as the former uses the artist's own body, face, and presence as a medium, and the latter uses materials such as clay, metal or paint which can be molded or transformed to create some physical art object...

 independent youth

Youth

Youth is the time of life between childhood and adulthood . Definitions of the specific age range that constitutes youth vary. An individual's actual maturity may not correspond to their chronological age, as immature individuals could exist at all ages.-Usage:Around the world, the terms "youth",...

 theatre

Amateur theatre

Amateur theatre is theatre performed by amateur actors. These actors are not typically members of Actors' Equity groups or Actors' Unions as these organizations exist to protect the professional industry and therefore discourage their members from appearing with companies which are not a signatory...

 which aims towards working with integrating the deaf and hearing

Hearing (person)

The term hearing or hearing person, from the perspective of mainstream English-language culture, refers to someone whose sense of hearing is at the medical norm. From this point of view, someone who is not fully hearing has a hearing impairment or is said to be hard of hearing or deaf. The...

 communities

Community

The term community has two distinct meanings:*a group of interacting people, possibly living in close proximity, and often refers to a group that shares some common values, and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household...

 through drama

Drama

Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...

 and sign songs. The youth theatre meets at the Hippodrome Theatre

Birmingham Hippodrome

The Birmingham Hippodrome is a theatre situated on Hurst Street in the Chinese Quarter of Birmingham, England.Although best known as the home stage of the Birmingham Royal Ballet, it also hosts a wide variety of other performances including visiting opera and ballet companies, touring West End...

 in Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

, United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 on Saturday afternoons.

They started as a part of the Leaveners

The Leaveners

The Leaveners are a performing arts organisation consisting of members of the Religious Society of Friends .They started at Britain Yearly Meeting in 1978 and have been growing ever since. They run a number of projects, most specifically for young people, some resulting in a performance but most...

, a Quaker performing arts group, alongside their other two groups, Quaker Music Making and Quaker Youth Theatre. After gaining popularity at various events, such as the Big Youth Theatre Festival (BYTF) and receiving the Wavemakers Award, the youth theatre split from its parent organisation due to financial issues, becoming and Independent Voluntary Organisation. The group formerly met at the Crescent Theatre

Crescent Theatre

The Crescent Theatre is a small, amateur theatre run mostly by volunteers, based in Sheepcote Street, Brindleyplace in Birmingham, England.It houses one of the oldest theatre companies in the city: The Crescent Theatre Company. The Crescent also plays host to numerous visiting companies every year,...

 before September 2008, when the group moved to the Hippodrome.

Organisation

Words, Signs & Vibes is lead primarily by two drama leaders, Angela Twigg and Jayne Fletcher, who after working as drama leaders while the group was a member of the Leaveners, since moved to save the group from disbanding by forming it into an independent organisation in its own right.

The drama leaders are helped in workshops and projects by volunteer workers and interpreters to aid with communication with sign language

British Sign Language

British Sign Language is the sign language used in the United Kingdom , and is the first or preferred language of some deaf people in the UK; there are 125,000 deaf adults in the UK who use BSL plus an estimated 20,000 children. The language makes use of space and involves movement of the hands,...

.