- Canadian Deaf Theatre
Canadian Deaf Theatre was founded in 1989 by
Lewis Hartland (bornJune 16 ,1955 ), a former member of the Canadian Theatre of the Deaf. It is currently based inCranbrook, British Columbia . Opening night for "Varieties", the company's first production, wasJanuary 10 ,1990 . The first performances starred Hartland and hearing actress, Toni Miller, a native ofPrince George, British Columbia , who was later replaced by Hartland's deaf wife, Constance Alice (nee Harrison). CDT is currently Canada's only anglophone deaf professional theatre company.Dr. Clifton Carbin (1996) "Deaf Heritage in Canada". McGraw-Hill Ryerson Limited. ISBN 0-07-551378-1.] Its philosophy is "A belief in the interest and inherent natural ability of deaf people to act and entertain on a serious professional level and to offer something different from that of the hearing/speaking theatrical medium".Performance
Presented in mime, sign mime,
pantomime , visual vernacular, theatrical clown,American Sign Language , ASL poetry and mime with masks, CDT's performances are designed to delight both deaf and hearing audiences. The company also offers workshops for children and adults on such topics as visual theatre techniques, storytelling, creative drama, the dynamics of communication and mime. The workshops for deaf children are designed to "enhance the student's power of perception, encourage their talents and skills in expressing themselves creatively, and increase their appreciation of the theatre."History
Founder and
artistic director , Hartland was born inNelson, British Columbia and became deaf at the age of eight months fromspinal meningitis . While a student at the Jericho Hill Provincial School for the Deaf inVancouver, British Columbia . (1960-1972), he also took special instruction from a professional mime professor atSimon Fraser University inBurnaby, British Columbia (1970). He trained at the Canadian Mime Theatre School in 1977, took an actor's lab with Polish actor Ryszard Cieslak (1977), and presented solo mime performances as Lewis the Mime inCanada and the U.S. from 1977-1989. He was one of the founding members of the Canadian Theatre of the Deaf and performed with that company in 1976 and 1977. In 1977 Hartland founded the Deaf Mime Company of Toronto, and in 1982, he established the Ontario Theatre of the Deaf; both companies later disbanded. In 1988 and 1989, he studied and performed in theUnited States with theNational Theatre of the Deaf in Chester, Connecticut. Enabled by the awarding of grants by theCanada Council for the Arts , Hartland also attended advanced studies with NTD. In the summer of 1989, he was one of the invited performers at The Deaf Way Conference and Festival inWashington, D.C. While there, he was approached by a representative of the Canadian Cultural Society of the Deaf, who encouraged him to form what became the Canadian Deaf Theatre. CDT was then founded in 1989 with the subsequent establishing of a Board of Directors inCranbrook, British Columbia in 1990. CDT received significant provincial and federal grants as well as private donations.Connie Hartland (b.
March 23 ,1955 ) is a consummate performer in her own right. She was born hard of hearing inBurnaby, British Columbia as a result of maternalrubella (she is now profoundly deaf), and attended several schools including Jericho Hill Provincial School (1960-1965), the Herbert Symonds Public School inMontreal, Quebec (1965-1966), the Ontario School for the Deaf, Milton (1966-1971 and 1973-1974), and the Ontario School for the Deaf in Belleville (1971-1973). Prior to joining her husband on stage, she travelled throughAlaska presenting workshops in mime, and appeared on television inToronto, Ontario with her puppets.At the beginning of each show, the couple's hearing son Samson Hartland (b
May 5 ,1979 ), serves as interpreter while his father introduces the concept behind Canadian Deaf Theatre and explains something about their innovative and entertaining techniques.Present
In the summer of 1992, the Hartlands moved to
Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, where they owned and operated a store called Last Frontier Sports Cards and Comics. Hartland hopes to move the CDT from Cranbrook, B.C. to Whitehorse one day and establish it in theYukon with a new board of directors. He currently coaches acting on the side, and both he and his wife are active in the local Whitehorse Deaf community, advocating for such things asTDD access and special long distance rates (50 percent discount) for deaf telephone users in both theYukon andNorthwest Territories (a struggle in which they were assisted by federalNew Democratic Party leaderAudrey McLaughlin [Member of Parliament for Yukon Territory] and were successful in achieving). In 2003, they were also successful in lobbying the City ofWhitehorse, Yukon to provideclosed captioning of its publicly broadcastCity Council meetings, making it the first municipality inCanada to offer such service.References
External links
* [http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/tape15/PQDD_0006/MQ28912.pdf Deaf Theatre in Canada: Signposts to an Other Land] Library and Archives Canada, 1998
* [http://www.deaftoday.com/news/archives/002354.html Involve Hearing Impaired, Council Told] Deaf Today May 21, 2003
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