Deaf Theatre History: Overview
The development of Deaf Theatre is often overlooked in theatre history textbooks and the media. A number of influences have fostered its development since the late 19th century. The following is a quick overview of the various influences. In future posts each area will be reviewed more fully to demonstrate the positive and negative aspects of each influence on Deaf Theatre.
Deaf Residential Schools: 1817-1912
Twenty six residential schools were founded by deaf individuals before 1912. One result was the creation of Literary Societies where literary pieces and original stories were performed by deaf students. These presentation and performance skills will later enable adaptation of the traditional theatre format.
Gallaudet College/University: 1860:
The College provided a nationally centralized place for deaf people to meet, interact, and create performance activities through Literary Society and Drama Club activities that adapted theatre effectively for their purposes and would lead to a theatre degree program by 1963.
Silent Films:
Granville Redmond, Emerson Romero (Tommy Albert), Louis Weinberg (David Marvel), Albert Ballin, and Carmen de Arcos were identified as deaf actors in the silent film era. These silent films brought attention to the deaf community of the natural qualities of sign language to use cinema techniques and these were gradually incorporated into signed performances. These techniques would later be developed further in workshop activities and named “visual vernacular” by Bernard Bragg, a famous deaf mime, educator, director, playwright, and actor.
New York City Broadway Productions: 1940-2003:
Four Broadway productions would increase the public awareness of deaf people and motivate further theatre involvement by deaf people. These four plays were: Johnny Belinda (1940), The Miracle Worker (1959), Children of a Lesser God (1980), and Big River (2003).
In 1942 an all deaf cast from Gallaudet College performed Arsenic and Old Lace in sign language while the original cast had the night off.
In 1978, Bruce Hlibrok became the first deaf person to perform with an all hearing cast for The Runaways, winner of Tony awards for best musical, best original score, best director, best choreography, and best book of a musical. He is the only deaf person known thus far to have music credits assigned to him from this production.
Professional Theatres:
Professional opportunities were created by the founding of several professional theatres:
National Theatre of the Deaf (1967)
Fairmount Theatre of the Deaf (1972)
Deaf West Theatre (1990).
NTD would perform twice on Broadway in 1969 and 1970, both for several nights and win a Tony award for Theatrical Excellence in 1977. Deaf West Theatre would appear on Broadway in 2003 with their musical production “Big River.”
Television:
he Emmy award for Outstanding Drama/Comedy Special was awarded to Hallmark”s Hall of Fame: Love Is Never Silent (NBC) in 1986 and involved a deaf producer, Juliana Fjelds. This led to an increase in appearances by deaf actors in television.
Film:
Marlee Matlin was the first deaf actress to receive a Best Actress Oscar for her role in Children of a Lesser God. She was nominated for a Golden Globe award for her work in the television series Reasonable Doubt (1991–1993). This heightened the awareness of deaf people and sign language and prompted new interest in the performing arts for a new generation of deaf people.
Summary:
These influences supported an evolutionary process that continues to flourish today. Currently, Deaf theatre is moving away from the traditional theatre format towards a visual theatre medium that avoids reliance on spoken or signed dialog. Another focus is presenting virtual signed performances on websites such as You Tube.
Hi there. My name is Kim Williamson I am a college student. You are definitely right when you say that deaf theatre is “overlooked.” I am working on a paper for my introduction to theatre class, and am wondering if there is anywhere that you can steer me that could be of help for this assignment? I need to find the theatrical roots and history of deaf theatre. Anything you can share with me would be appreciated.
Thank you,
Kim Williamson
kwilliamson3233@gmail.com