Chris Burns – non-verbal actor
Hello, my name is Christopher and l live in Cornwall, which is mostly sunny. I have Autism and has lived in my parental home for nearly half a century. Unspoken isn’t my first theatre experience. I was also involved in Our Space's The Edge and War Torn. I have participated in disability arts for a couple of years now. l volunteer weekly at a music charity in Plymouth. The reason why l auditioned to be part of the production is l feel voices are important. A voice can make us judge someone at an instant without knowing the full story about someone. It's horrible when you feel your voice is being taken away especially when it leaves you unable to express discomfort and pain. We ignore different voices too much like they are somehow not part of humanity. I can assure the world they put their own mark on the greater global family. With a speech app it is possible to be an actor. yes, my communication skills will always be rusty but I still have something to give to the milky way.
Golda Dahan – deaf actor
I studied and trained classical ballet and contemporary dance with Ester Nadler, working semi-professional dancer with a company ‘Sound and Silence’ incorporating both deaf and hearing dancers, toured with them in Europe and Israel. In 1986 I joined with ‘Ten Fingers’ deaf drama group and performed with them in “Helen Keller” centre, Tel-Aviv. In 1987, I joined with ‘Common Ground Sign Dance Theatre’, I performed and taught dance workshops with children and adult. In 1989, I performed a ‘deaf way’ in Washington DC.
I acted with Jewish Deaf Drama Group in 1992 and performed at the Rudolf Steiner House for ‘The Greatest Story Ever Signed’ directed by David Jackson. In 2008, I joined acting course with Deafinitely Theatre and performed at RADA. In 2004, I taught National Deaf Theatre Youth project at Sadler’s Wells incorporated drama, sign poetry and conducted deaf young people to take part in “sessions”. In 2003, I conducted ‘Believe in God or Not’ performance with Brent deaf mental health.
I was choreographed ‘The Elemental’ dance project with Frank Barnes School for the deaf children for a year in a conjunction with ‘The place’ Theatre. I was a freelance dance artist and taught dance projects in schools for the deaf, hearing impaired units, deaf youth clubs, festivals, young people and their families. In 1994, I joined with Deaf Dance project at Sadler’s Wells and performed at Youth Dance Festival. I featured on “See Hear” BBC1 TV in January 1994. I performed at Phoenix studio in Hackney in 1994 and performed for the New Faces at Lyric Theatre in 1996. I acted a ‘shoot film’ in the silence film in August 1996 as well as featured in the film ‘the silence’ in BSL Zone in 2013 and ‘The fairly Tales’ film in 2012.
Heather Dare - writer
Originally from Melbourne in Australia, Heather was a senior manager in the airlines of TAA, Australian Airlines and Qantas. She suffered a stroke at the age of 47 leaving her unable to speak or walk. Determined to regain her independence Heather has worked hard to conquer her communication challenges and now uses a Lightwriter and a system of hand signals.