NTID group to taste fame on prime-time TV drama

From: Rochester Democrat and Chronicle - Rochester,NY,USA - Apr 2, 2007

Greg Livadas
Staff writer

If you see some familiar faces on television this week, you're not imagining things.

Eight students, graduates and staff members from Rochester Institute of Technology's National Technical Institute for the Deaf are scheduled to appear in Tuesday's Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

In what may be the largest deaf cast ever assembled for a network television show, the plot of "Silencer" involves the murder of an ear surgeon who testified against a colleague who performed cochlear implant surgery on a baby.

The episode was filmed February in New York City. Deaf actors from New York City are also featured in the episode.

Among the local people who appear as extras in four scenes are NTID assistant professor Luane Davis Haggerty.

"I think it is the first time a prime-time show has had more than one or two deaf actors," Davis Haggerty said.

"It was a great experience for the students who went down. We were treated very, very well. It was a very, very positive experience."

The show will be aired at 9 p.m. Tuesday on WHEC-TV (Channel 10).

GLIVADAS@DemocratandChronicle.com

© 2007 Rochester Democrat and Chronicle