Once On This Island: The first musical in Mexico that merges Spanish and Mexican Sign Language.

Expansive theater in Nuevo León: art that unites communities

Monterrey Performing Arts Academy and Nuevo Teatro are proud to present Once on This Island in a way never seen before, with a solid fusion of Spanish and sign language, reinforcing free access to musical theater.

The production is developed through a collaboration with organizations such as Woojer (a pioneering technology company in haptic wearables) and APSIS (a group providing comprehensive psychological care for the deaf).

Why Once on This Island?

Once on This Island is a Broadway musical with a Caribbean essence that tells the story of Ti Moune, a peasant girl who falls in love with a boy named Daniel. It's a musical that shows how the power of love unites social classes on an island divided by gods and racial differences.

This story tells us about the importance of keeping love and forgiveness alive, the transformation of our prejudices, and how communities evolve and can be transformed by the actions of one person.

How does a musical theatre production work with a deaf and hearing cast?

Charly Ortega, the musical's artistic director, began working on this project in early 2025. The process started with research that included interviewing groups like " Seña y Verbo " in Mexico City, as well as receiving input from " Definitely Theatre " in England, with the aim of understanding the current state of deaf people in Mexican theater and the progress made in other countries.

During this research, Charly identified an area of opportunity: musical theater productions featuring deaf artists have primarily relied on the deaf artist's visual interpretation of the hearing artist. Visual cues such as body movement, lip reading, and other planned signals guide the deaf person through the performance.

In recent years, thanks to pioneering technology from companies like Woojer, some shows have begun to improve audience accessibility through the use of haptic belts and vests. However, Charly wondered: how can we integrate this technology to provide accessibility not only to the audience, but also to the cast of a musical?

Woojer joined this adventure and covered part of the cost of the world's most advanced haptic vests. Each vest features six haptic oscillators located on the back, chest, and abdomen, which transform the auditory frequencies of music into vibrations. For months, the team experimented with different instruments through trial and error until they finally generated haptic cues that run in sync with the music of Once on This Island . This is how Charly Ortega and Luis Díaz will, for the first time in the world, integrate haptic technology beneath the costumes of a deaf cast in a musical theater production.

Furthermore, some deaf people have some residual hearing and can access sound in other ways. This led to the creation of filters that individually equalize sound according to the hearing spectrum of each person in the cast who uses them, based on their hearing assessments, and which are delivered through in-ear monitors.

In short: every time a musical number is performed, the hearing artists perceive the music through speakers, while some deaf members perceive it through vibrations, and others through individually equalized in-ear monitors. This cutting-edge approach breaks down auditory barriers on stage, offering the cast an experience like never before.

Who are the members of the Creative and Production Team of Once On This Island?

The team consists of:

Charly Ortega (Artistic Director),

Sebastián Báez (Stage Director),

Jerry Hepi (Vocal Director),

Isis Olmos (Choreographic Director),

Paulo Manzano (Accessibility Coordinator),

Stefany Castillo (Production Coordinator),

Alberto Holz (Stage Manager),

Luis Díaz (Video Design and Production Assistant),

Diego Vorath (Lighting Design),

Andrea Calvo and Mariana Valdepeñas (Costume Design),

WonderGlam (Makeup Design),

Gerardo Alanís (Administrative Coordinator)

Kaoz (Public Relations),

Eric Gamez (Video Editing),

Alejandra López (Adaptation),

In addition to a cast of 29 people and a stagehands team of 6 people.

What can we learn from this experience?

Theater in Mexico continues to evolve and contribute to international advancements. How can we evolve with it? Throughout this process, we have learned to pause, evaluate, and change established practices to redefine the musical experience beyond our senses.

This stage production invites us to explore new ways of communicating through art. The processes that challenge us are the ones most worth sharing.

Once on This Island is presented under license and usage rights granted by Music Theatre International (MTI) .

September 2026.