Actors

Much of the history of deaf performance prior to the 19th century is yet uncovered or has been lost. The earliest records of deaf actors in performance are of dramatic events hosted at Deaf schools and clubs, often staged adaptations of literary and dramatic texts. With silent films, deaf actors and audiences enjoyed a relatively brief period on equal footing with hearing people until the introduction of sound in film. Gallaudet College, with the recognition of American Sign Language (ASL) in the 1960s proved to be the site of a critical mass of people that, through drama, embodied pride in ASL and Deaf culture. Faculty, students, and alumni were instrumental in spreading awareness of Deaf issues and ASL and helped lay the foundation for a National Theatre of the Deaf (NTD) in 1967. The NTD, which grew a new professional class of deaf actors, traveled throughout the world, influencing deaf artists and providing the impetus for the founding of a number of other domestic and internationally based deaf theatres. Since the initial success of the NTD, many deaf actors have made appearances on stage, television, and film, and continue to grow in number, power, and diversity.

Deaf actors and performers have existed throughout history, though there is very little documentation on them before the 19th century. The earliest known documented record of any deaf actors in a performance is from 1884, of a student drama at the National Deaf-Mute College (later Gallaudet College, now Gallaudet University). At the college, deaf performers without any formal training staged pantomime, melodrama, farce, burlesque, vaudeville, and other adaptations of well-known works. Deaf people were involved in theatrical activities outside the educational milieu, at societies, unions, religious gatherings, and clubs.

[Page 5]The invention of film provided a most fitting medium for deaf actors. George Veditz of the National Association of the Deaf pushed to preserve and distribute stories and oratories by the great masters of sign language between 1910 and 1920. A good number of deaf actors worked during the golden age of silent films, and a few had the means to create their own work. Granville Redmond, a contemporary and friend of Charlie Chaplin, is probably the most well-known among these actors, performing with Chaplin in a few films. His Busy Hour, an experimental film in 1926, features Albert Ballin (author of The Deaf Mute Howls) and other deaf actors performing in mime. This film was intended to showcase deaf talent and prove to general audiences that deaf performers could excel in Hollywood, but saw no official release to the general public. Other notable deaf actors and filmmakers during this era were Emerson Romero (a.k.a. Tommy Albert), Louis Weinberg (a.k.a. David Marvel), and Carmen de Arcos, the only known deaf woman performer during the silent era. The advent of sound technology in film in the late 1920s stymied the advancement of deaf actors and forced many into early retirement. Although deaf filmmakers such as Charles Krauel and Ernest Marshall created films for deaf audiences, there would be no major deaf presence on the mainstream screen until the 1960s.

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