The IMAGE club that is on-campus is an American Sign Language music performance group. The club sits at five members strong who are taking popular songs and translating them into a performance. They have set the stage for their annual performance on November 12th in Carver Hall. The show is free admission and is friendly to both deaf and hearing viewers.

The small group organization is strong, while it holds only five accountable members: Kaitlyn Stacherski, Madison Sloan, Kimberly Mitchell, Anne Garret, and Riley Draddy. Yet, the group is a strong and supportive team. The show will contain a variety of group and individual songs and feature single, dual, and trio performances. 

For this show, they have one duo and one trio performance lined up alongside their group performances. Together, the five of them has spent the entirety of the fall semester preparing. A few songs they expect to perform are Industry Baby by Lil Nas X (performed by Kaitlyn and Kimberly), Karma by AJR (performed by Madison Sloan), and Alive by One Direction (performed by Riley, Anne, and Kaitlyn).

It took working hard during both their weekly meetings and as much as they can in their free time to practice their signing and coordination.  Having a long process in which they break down the song, analyze it, translate it, and get it ready to perform was essential to the process. 

Madison Sloan emphasized the song preparation process, “If we get through one song in three weeks that’s really good timing. So it’s like a very long and drawn-out process and it’s more like not going off of the English word for word and more about the english concepts.”  The team also takes care in planning out costumes reflecting the song. The theme of this show is intended to be sassy with a consistent change in each song.

IMAGE is an audition-based group that accepts members of any sign language proficiency and academic major. Anyone may perform any song they choose during the audition process as long as it has a verse and a chorus. The songs will be evaluated using a rubric. The candidates with the highest marks will be chosen. The club does present some difficulties, but since it is an ASL performance group, everyone must work in unison. a component that affects both the audition process and their entire show. For IMAGE, a lot of time was invested. They meet twice a week for two hours each, in addition to the time you must dedicate to the shows. Meeting days vary.

When asked if they had any advice or recommendations the President of the Club Kaitlyn said: “It comes down to personal preference.” Anne Garret added: “Just have fun with it. Get into the song.” While Sloan stated: “Be creative as possible.” 

For those who wish to learn more about IMAGE email [email protected] or their Instagram @imagebloomsburguniversity