Deaf Theater + Opera Collab Handbook

The result of 5+ years of learning and 2 “Deaf opera” productions: VHO has produced a handbook of collaborative practices as a free, downloadable resource to anyone interested in producing a work of theater featuring singers and Deaf actors.

What is opera without sound? This is the question we initially posed that led us down an inspiring path of discovery, experimentation and collaboration with the community of Deaf artists. Years of work culminated in our boundary-defying "Deaf opera" production in 2023, Orpheus & Erica.

We believe this show to be the first full integration of Deaf theater and opera created on this scale. The learning and principles stated in this Handbook are the result of dialogue, rehearsal, workshopping, performance, study and feedback between opera singers, Deaf actors, Deaf directors, hearing ASL-Master producers, poets, opera directors, interpreters, Deaf and hearing playwrights, stage managers, dancers and musicians of all kinds.

VHO extends special thanks to contributors to this Handbook and participants Christine Brandes, Willy Conley, Celena Cox, Jules Dameron, Rachelle Durkin, Sandra Mae Frank, Kathleen Kelly, JiYung Lee, Alek Lev, Chuanyuan Liu, John Maucere, Emily Haynes McGee, Mona Mehrpour, Lettie Nazloo, Jon Wolfe Nelson, Miriam Gordon-Stewart, Brenda Patterson, Nicole Pierce, Corrie Pond, Jackie Roth, Warren "Wawa" Snipe, Jennifer Zetlan, and Amber Zion.

Although our work has resulted in two different staged productions thus far, this Handbook is not about reproducing those shows or exactly following our process. Instead, it offers a distillation of the chief "lessons" or advice that we would wish to offer others considering a Deaf-opera collaboration of their own.

We hope it empowers you - as producer, director, actor, or singer - to envision possibilities and overcome inhibitions. The rewards are profound, the process challenging and unimaginably fruitful.

Take the first step!