Montana Hodges
3/10/2005
Deaf Theater in the United States
Deaf theater has been around in grassroots and small-scale forms since
the early 1900s, mostly with performances based out of deaf schools and
cultural centers. Gallaudet University, a leading school for the deaf, has
drama clubs that date back to the 1930s and in 1961 the school began
teaching theater (Baldwin, Stephen 1993). Even then, deaf theater was
something that was part of deaf culture and very rarely part of hearing
entertainment. This all began to change in 1959 when Anne Bancroft, a young
actress, studies for her role in the play, “The Miracle Worker.”
Bancroft was cast to play Helen Keller’s teacher Annie Sullivan in the
play so she decides to study deaf culture and learn sign language in New
York City. Over a six month period, she becomes involved with the deaf
community and attends Gallaudet University’s drama club’s performance of
Othello. She is inspired by the play and gets several of the staff working
on “The Miracle Worker” to attend deaf theater. One of the people introduced
to deaf theater by Bancroft is David Hays, a Broadway set designer. Hays was
inspired by the physical forms of expression and became involved in many
productions. At this time, the United States is undergoing changes with the
civil rights movements, and the first play from African American theater (“A
Raisin in the Sun”) hits Broadway (Baldwin, Stephen 1993). Eight years
later, in 1967, David Hays, who is hearing, founds the National Theater of
the Deaf (NTD) and introduces deaf theater as part of mainstream American
society (ntd.org).
NTD began with a collaboration of help from hearing and deaf community
leaders, along with federal grants from the U.S. Department of Health. The
theater has continually grown since 1967 and has done more than establish
the deaf community as a major role in the theatrical arts, however. NTD has
broken barriers and introduced deaf culture, creativity and ability into
hearing societies with public interest as well as demand. Since their humble
beginnings, the public has embraced deaf theater and shows by NTD have been
to Broadway and beyond. NTD troupes have toured in all 50 states, often to
sold-out audiences (Margo, Meisel. 1996). Today they work with over 40
theaters around the world they have helped found and have been on over 50
national tours and played in over 7,000 performances (ntd.org). Including
both hearing and deaf theater, NTD is the longest continually-producing
touring theater company in the United States (ntd.org).
Deaf theater has earned its own prominence in its short run. Both deaf
and hearing actors fiercely compete at a chance to become even a student at
the most elite training branch- NTD, which runs a summer program sponsored
by the Department of Education. Competition is fierce, however, and within
the over two hundred applications received, only twenty lucky applicants
make the cut (Baldwin 1993). Of course, what more could be expected from
wanting to train with troupe coaches that have led their acts from a back
alley to Broadway. In 38 years, deaf theater has become a part of American
history.
References:
Baldwin, Stephen C. 1993. Pictures in the Air: The Story of the National
Theater of the Deaf. Washington, D.C.. Gallaudet University Press. 142 p.
No Specified Author. (2004). About NTD: History/Timeline. National Theater
of the Deaf. Retrieved 25 March 2005.
<http://www.ntd.org/about_history.htm>.
Margo, Meisel. 1996. Theater for the Deaf: Glass Menagerie. Boston, MA.
Fanlight Productions. (Video documentary about actors of NTD)