Kara Hodge Entertainment Beat

At first glance, Annie Wiegand looks like the typical college student. Dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, her eyes framed by trendy red glasses, Wiegand talks about how much she loves the theater.

She looks like the typical student because when she talks, you would never know that Annie Wiegand is deaf.

Born without the ability to hear, Wiegand grew up with her mother and younger brother in Des Moines, Iowa, as the only deaf person in her family. She was also the only deaf student in her school growing up.

"In general, I've always been the odd one out," said Wiegand.

When Wiegand was in the eighth grade she fell in love with movies.

"I was a movie freak," said Wiegand. "I loved them -- then I fell in love with the theater."

At her high school in Iowa, Wiegand got involved by taking drama and working backstage.

"Our high school got to go to Edinburgh, Scotland, to this big international theater called Fring," said Wiegand. "People perform on the street all day long. It's really amazing."

Wiegand's high school drama group also attended the American High School Theater Festival, a prestigious annual festival that is invitation-only. Twelve high schools from around the nation are chosen to attend and perform.

After two-and-a-half years at Gallaudet University, a liberal arts college for deaf people in Washington, D.C., Wiegand said she longed for a change.

"I wanted a concentration in technical theater," Wiegand said. "I wasn't happy with the theater program at Gallaudet -- they only had one production a semester. Here at Appalachian, they have three mainstage shows and a bunch of little productions."

When asked how she found Appalachian State University, Wiegand said, "I visited a friend and fell in love with the mountains."

After her transfer this January to Appalachian, Wiegand got involved in the department of theatre and dance immediately.

She directed two scenes and performed in "Pieces of She" and was the light board operator in "One Acts III."

Wiegand will also be involved in the department's last mainstage production "As Is" as part of the costume crew.

Last semester at Gallaudet, Wiegand was asked to be the assistant stage manager for a play called "The Fallout Shelter" at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

"They wanted deaf people to be involved in it, "said Wiegand.

"The Fallout Shelter" was written by a deaf writer and involved four deaf characters and one hearing character. The story is set in wartime.

The hearing character tells the deaf characters that a bomb is coming -- the twist is that the deaf do not really know if what the hearing character told them is true because they cannot hear the sirens.

"It's about how hearing people keep the deaf in the dark," said Wiegand.

Being deaf has not always been easy for Wiegand, but she is positive about her ability to speak so well and read lips.

"I feel lucky to be able to read lips and speak," said Wiegand. "Some deaf people never pick it up, but I've picked it up over the years."

"I grew up where deaf people were looked at as people with a lower mentality," said Wiegnad. "Most deaf people that I have met are very, very bright."

In fact, Wiegand's favorite actress is deaf -- Phyllis Frelich won a "Best Actress" Tony Award in 1980 for her performance as Sarah Norman in "Children of a Lesser God."

"She's very talented," Wiegand said.

Frelich wrote for a theater company called "Deaf West Theater," a national theater for the deaf in Connecticut.

After college, Wiegand wants to work for "Deaf West Theater" or another deaf theater company, or become a professor of technical theater at Gallaudet University.

"I want to open up that area of theater to deaf people," said Wiegand. "There are a lot of talented deaf people."