Deafy

Chris Dodd is a Treaty 6 based (Edmonton) award-winning Deaf actor, playwright, accessibility advocate and Governor General Innovation Award finalist. He is the founder and artistic director of SOUND OFF, Canada’s national festival devoted to Deaf performance. Chris holds a degree from the University of Alberta’s Drama program and has been working within Edmonton’s theatre community, and across Canada, for over 25 years. His play, Deafy, has been touring across Canada since 2021 and recently had its first international performance in the Netherlands in October. The play has been published by Playwrights Canada Press as part of the anthology, “Interdependent Magic: Disability Performance in Canada”. Notable performances include the role of Alphonse in Ultrasound at Theatre Passe Muraille. Recent film credits include the role of Odin in the feature film, Finality of Dusk. In 2019 he was the recipient of the Guy Laliberté Prize for innovation and creative leadership by the Canada Council for the Arts.

Ashley has appeared in productions with: Arts Club Theatre and Bard on the Beach (Vancouver); The Citadel Theatre (Edmonton); ATP and Theatre Calgary (Calgary); Manitoba Theatre Centre and Winnipeg Jewish Theatre (Winnipeg); The Globe Theatre (Regina); and Theatre Passe Muraille, Factory Theatre, Tarragon Theatre, Mirvish and Canadian Stage (Toronto). He recently received an MFA in directing from the University of Alberta, and has written several plays, including the award winning Silent Words, starring Chris Dodd.

This is Jessy’s fourth time acting as the stage manager for Deafy, and she is delighted to be back! When she is not pushing buttons in the booth, Jessy is an actor, a playwright, and an artistic co-producer with interactive theatre company The Fox Den Collective. Recent acting credits include The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet, and Twelfth Night (Freewill Shakespeare Festival), and Queen Lear is Dead (TFDC). Her writing has been seen onstage in Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Toronto, and Edmonton, where she has won two Sterling Awards for her work. Selected writing credits include Persuasion; Prophecy; and The Fall of the House of Atreus: A Cowboy Love Song.

Rory is a designer, performer, and theatre maker from the prairies. He is interested in slow music, postcards, toy theatres, and masks. Rory attended the Theatre Arts program at MacEwan University and studied theatre design at the University of Alberta. He is a design instructor at the Citadel’s Foote Theatre School and the lighting designer for Common Ground Arts’ RISER production development projects. Recent design credits: The Immaculate Perfection… (Body Cube Arts, High Performance Rodeo), Hyena’s Trail (Here For Fear Collective, Next Fest), Helen (Trunk Theatre), MINE, In My Own Little Corner, Omisimawiw, After Faust (Common Ground Arts).