Deafinitely Theatre has revealed the names of those receiving a bursary under its new scheme for supporting deaf or hard of hearing freelancers.
Each of the twenty theatre practitioners and performers will receive £1,000 and will benefit from networking events and keeping-in-touch sessions to supporting their personal development. They are:
- Stephanie Back, who will develop show Fow and translation skills for presenting work online and reaching Deaf audiences.
- Rinkoo Barpaga, who will develop a clowning piece aiming to reach new young Asian and black audiences.
- Duffy, who will develop a new play.
- Katie Erich, who will work towards BSL level 6 and translating scripts.
- Richard France, who will work with deaf dancers in new areas exploring dance developed through sensory feeling and sonic sounds.
- Fifi Garfield, who will have training from experienced stand-up comedy professionals as R&D for a new solo piece.
- Ben Glover, who will develop his creative captioning video design skills.
- Alim Jayda, who will create a new digital platform for work by underrepresented deaf voices and minorities.
- Sahera Khan, who is researching a new short play about deaf women in prison.
- Ace Mahbaz, whose work explores the concept of masculinity in the deaf community and what it means to be a deaf man.
- Zoë McWhinney, who will experiment with cutting-edge musical equipment.
- Harri Marshall, whose new verbatim piece looks at human connection in an increasingly digitised world.
- Colly Metcalfe, who will create new material in BSL and English.
- Chisato Minamimura, who will work with established deaf performers to develop her performance skills using sign and mime.
- Julian Peedle-Calloo, who will work with a deaf playwright on a play about the impacts of COVID-19 on the deaf community.
- Jamie Rea, who will develop a new interdisciplinary digital performance.
- Mary-Jayne Russell de Clifford, who will explore the feasibility of setting up a deaf community theatre group in the Midlands.
- Rebecca Saffir, who will work on two new plays of contrasting forms: a large, multi-lingual ensemble piece and a monologue.
- Deepa Shastri, who will develop her knowledge of casting and creative producing.
- Otis Waby, who will research and write a piece inspired by his tinnitus and mental health, interviewing other creatives with similar issues.
Deafinitely Theatre artistic director Paula Garfield said, “Deafinitely Theatre is incredibly excited to be able to support 20 deaf British freelance theatre professionals at this difficult time thanks to the support of the Arts Council England Cultural Recovery Fund.
"These 20 artists represent just a fraction of the wide-ranging, diverse deaf talent in our industry and we are excited to support their personal development on innovative theatre projects and initiatives.
"We can’t wait to share the work developed as a result of their bursaries, which will be profiled on our web site in the spring.
"Take a look at our web site now to find out more about this brilliant group and the work they are making.”