Department of Performing Arts

Overview

Welcome to NTID Performing Arts! Fall 2022 brings many changes. First, we are proud to announce our new Theatre Design and Stagecraft Immersion and Minor programs. Second, all department spaces, including Panara Theatre, will be closed during Fall 2022 during our renovation. We anticipate Panara reopening in Spring 2023. Department offices will relocate to Peterson Hall tunnel rooms A121-A147 for the 2022-23 academic year. Finally, we are excited to announce our 2022-23 joint season with the College of Liberal Arts. Although our shows will happen in different venues than usual, we look forward to another year of outstanding theatre and dance. See you there!

Photo from Cabaret group dancing

The NTID Department of Performing Arts produces several shows per season. Faculty and staff collaborate extensively with the College of Liberal Arts’ School of Performing Arts, while also maintaining NTID’s long tradition of Deaf-centered theatre and dance. All of our productions are accessible to Deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing audiences, whether back stage, onstage, or in the house. We are also committed to offering accessible performances for audiences with visual and other disabilities.

The NTID Department of Performing Arts offers an array of courses in dance, Deaf performance, and technical theatre taught by our accomplished faculty and staff. The department offers a Certificate in Performing Arts for AOS and AAS level students; and a Minor and Immersion in Theatre Design and Stagecraft for bachelor level students. RIT DanceCore is also homed in the department. RIT students from any college are welcome to participate in our productions and classes.

Our Mission and Values

The NTID Department of Performing Arts immerses students in a creative environment where they can explore the intersections of the performing arts, technology, and deafness. Benefits from studying and participating in the performing arts include:

  • Fostering an appreciation of diverse art forms
  • Developing creativity and self-expression
  • Strengthening visual perspectives and sign language competencies
  • Developing interpersonal, artistic and expressionistic skills that can be used in many other aspects of life

We recognize each individual's background and experiences provide unique perspectives as we represent the world around us through the arts. We believe the performing arts should provide the foundational environment to embrace and reflect this diversity on stage, backstage and through the lens of the audience. Our work is guided by these principles:

  • Choose season programming that presents a range of voices and creates opportunities for diverse, inclusive casting.
  • Select directors and production leaders from a wide range of backgrounds.
  • Embrace diverse, inclusive casting for every role, while honoring a playwright’s expressed intentions and adherence to licensing agreements.
  • Provide opportunities for students to grow as artists, rather than being solely defined by their ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation, age, hearing status, disability, or other identifying characteristic.
  • Actively engage with RIT, local, and national communities to recruit performers and production team members from diverse backgrounds.
  • Maintain and advance the long history and legacy of deaf-centered performance at NTID.
  • Regularly offer visual description, relaxed performances, and other accommodations to make our productions accessible to people with disabilities.
  • Experiment with new modes of performance that create new possibilities for artistic expression and inclusion.
  • Eliminate barriers that prevent people with disabilities from participating in design and production activities.
  • Recognize and work to dismantle systematic barriers to access and inclusion within the college and institute.
  • Ensure our teaching materials and practices are accessible, inclusive, and equitable.
  • Seek out opportunities to continue our individual journeys in creating an intersectional, inclusive, and culturally-respectful department environment.

Our History

Performing Arts at RIT originated with NTID. After the success of the student drama club founded by Dr. Robert Panara in 1969, drama became an integral part of NTID’s curriculum. The Experimental Educational Theatre Program opened in 1974 and eventually became the Department of Performing Arts. Until the College of Liberal Arts opened in 1997, we were the only college on campus offering theater, dance, and even music classes. Deaf theatre faculty over the years have included Patrick Graybill, Phyllis Frelich, Susan Jackson, Aaron Kelstone, Shanny Mow, and Howie Seago. Performance group Sunshine Too was part of the department from 1980-1989, touring nationally and internationally to present programs about Deaf awareness, social issues and the environment. The company was relaunched in 2017 as Sunshine 2.0. Dance was added to the curriculum in the 1980s, under the leadership of Michael Thomas. The RIT/NTID Dance Company, a unique ensemble of deaf, hard-of-hearing, and hearing students, presented a diverse repertoire of student and faculty choreography from 1980-2010. In 2021, the dance company was relaunched as Dance Core under the direction of faculty Marc Holland.

Current and Upcoming Events

Follow these links for more information on current and upcoming events:

Call for Script Submissions


Submit to the 2024 Deaf Creators Play Festival!
4/19/24 - 4/21/24

We are looking for short plays of up to one hour in length. Scripts should have no more than 5 characters and should require minimal staging (simple set, rep lighting plot, commonly available props, and modern costumes). If selected for the festival, play creators will receive funding to be present for two weeks prior to the festival to work with the actors and director on the script.

Scripts will be evaluated by a panel of judges, including Deaf/HH and hearing playwrights. Evaluation criteria will include artistic quality, contribution to diverse perspectives, and amount of development support the script has already received.

Scripts can be submitted in ASL or written English using this form: https://forms.gle/hhpVXy1vhtaJgJvMA

If submitting a video script, please create and submit an unlisted YouTube link with your form. If you have access issues with the form, please contact ntidperformingarts@gmail.com to discuss alternate submission options.

Submission deadline - Jun 30, 2023
Selection announcement - Aug 30, 2023


For College Students!!

Submit a 10-minute play for Deaf Creators Play Festival 2024! Selected scripts will be produced as a staged reading on 4/19. Students whose plays are selected will receive funding to attend the staged reading and festival. Open to Deaf/deaf/hard of hearing or DeafBlind college students nationwide. Scripts will be evaluated by a panel of judges, including Deaf/HH and hearing playwrights. Evaluation criteria will include artistic quality and contribution to diverse perspectives.

Scripts can be submitted in ASL or written English using this form: https://forms.gle/i3YZ6oCybZeWhNVX7

If submitting a video script, please create and submit an unlisted YouTube link with the form. If you have access issues with the form, please contact ntidperformingarts@gmail.com to discuss alternate submission options.

Submission deadline - Nov 15, 2023
Selection announcement - Jan 15, 2024

Academics and Employment


Performing Arts Academics

The department offers a variety of classes in dance, Deaf performance, and technical theatre open to all RIT students. Students can complete a Minor or Immersion in Theatre Design and Stagecraft. The department also offers a special certificate in performing arts for NTID AOS students.

Learn more about
Performing Arts Academics
  


Performing Arts Scholarships

All first-year and transfer applicants to RIT/NTID are eligible to apply for the Performing Arts Scholarship, regardless of intended major. This scholarship may be received in combination with other awards and grants and is renewable each year you are involved in performing arts at RIT.

Learn more about
Performing Arts Scholarships
  


Careers in Theatre

You're interested in more than just your major. You have a love and a talent for theatre and tech production, acting, dancing, or playing music. At RIT/NTID, we just don't hope you'll continue participating in the performing arts, we absolutely encourage it through scholarship programs.

Learn more about
Careers in Theatre
  


Student Employment

NTID Performing Arts hires students workers every semester to assist with backstage production. Duties range from helping construct costumes, props, scenery, to electrical and lighting work, to setting up and running events. Student workers must have completed at least one technical theater course or have prior technical theater experience.

Learn more about
Student Employment Opportunities
  

Productions and Auditions

 

Productions

Every aspect of an NTID production is accessible to Deaf, hard-of-hearing, and hearing people: back stage, onstage, or in the house. We also offer an audio described performance for each theatre production. To request other accommodations, please contact ntidperformingarts@rit.edu.

2023-2024 Season

Past Seasons

 

Upcoming Auditions

Deaf Republic
Deaf Republic

For dates and more information, go to Theatre Auditions and Casting.

[ID: AUDITION Find Your Light: Theatre and Dance Try-Ons. Calling All Stage Managers, Technicians, Designers, Dancers, and Actors flyer. Orange and blue background. Five images of each production: Thy Name is Woman, AstroDance II: Across the Universe, Ada and the Engine, Immersive Theatre Project, and Deaf creators Play Festival. RIT School of Performing Arts and NTID Department of Performing Arts invite you to our new audition process! Find Your Light: Theatre and Dance Try-Ons. Come learn about our entire 2023-24 theatre and dance season, participate in group workshops, explore roles and positions, and decide which shows you’re interested in! All RIT and NTID students are welcome to attend. No experience needed. Interpreters have been requested for this event. Try-ons will take place during the first week of classes: August 30 – September 2, 2023. Two logos: RIT NTID Performing Arts and College of Liberal Arts School of Performing Arts.]

Walkthrough and Facilities

Please note that during renovations starting in August 2022, Panara Theatre and the Dance Lab will be unavailable until further notice.

Virtual Walkthrough of NTID Performing Arts

Photo of the outside of Panara Theatre

Buy-A-Seat Program

Make a gift to Buy-A-Seat in the Robert F. Panara Theatre! This gift will make you a permanent supporter of the exciting performing arts program at NTID and a participant in some exciting renovations. We will mount a brass plaque with the inscription of your choice on your seat in the newly renovated theatre. It will be a permanent symbol of your generosity for thousands of theater goers to view each year. And, you will be helping to support the first major renovations to the Robert F. Panara Theatre in its thirty-year history.

To buy a seat, please use this form  

The Robert F. Panara Theatre is named in honor of Dr. Robert Panara, RIT’s first Deaf Professor and founder of the NTID Drama Club. A 449 seat auditorium, the theatre has played host to numerous guest artists such as Mikail Baryishnikov, Jane Fonda, Louise Fletcher, Marlee Maitlin, the National Theatre of the Deaf, Phyllis Frelich, Bernard Bragg, Patrick Graybill, Howie Seago, Cleveland SignStage, Annabelle Gamzon, Garth Fagan Dance, Hartford Ballet, Foreigner, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Sean Forbes, American Deaf Dance Company, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Danielle Ponder, and many others.

The theatre opened its doors on October 3, 1974 with a production of Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew. Originally called the Experimental Educational Theatre (EET), the theatre program has a rich heritage of offering challenging, entertaining, and provocative works of theatre, all created for both Deaf and hearing audiences. We have produced work in a wide variety of theater styles; Comedy, Musical, Dance, Drama, Classical, Kabuki (Japanese), Experimental, Puppets, and new works by both Deaf and hearing authors.

A Unique Form of Theatre

In developing a production that is equally accessible to Deaf and hearing, on-stage, backstage, and for members of the audience, there are many factors to consider that are unique to this form of theater ie: designing costumes and sets that are historically accurate yet provide sightlines and clear background for the Sign Language to play against (it's difficult to read Sign Language from the audience if the actor has on a bright, paisley shirt or the set is a series of "busy" colors and lines); or how to represent off-stage dialog and/or sound effects visually; keeping focus on the actors and not on extraneous, but often necessary movement; how to interpret dialog from the script that is based on sounds such as imitation of another's voice; how to stage or "block" the show so that both the audience and the actors can see each other at all times; how to cue an actor that cannot see the action on stage, but must enter on a certain line; how to incorporate voice actors; and many, many other unique things that make this type of theater so exciting. Design and staging challenges, script translation to Sign Language, and non-traditional casting are examples of the factors that cause our Director's imaginations to soar--much to the benefit of our audiences.

From the experimentation and imagination required to mount one of our productions, we have developed a body of works that have enriched the lives of hundreds of thousands audience members and a working process that has greatly benefitted and encouraged hundreds of young Deaf performers. We are very proud of the fact that many of the Deaf Professionals in the performing arts and entertainment industry are our former students, faculty and staff.

Our very successful heritage is now the backbone for our future growth. We are looking to expand our academic programs as well as our relationships with mainstream professional and community theaters. We produced the first-ever "American Deaf Play Creators Festival" and look forward to its continued growth and development. We look forward to the future, having the confidence and desire to promote artistic growth within the Deaf community and awareness of the many talents of Deaf Artists within the hearing community.

Theatre Capacity

The Robert F. Panara Theatre seats 440 people plus 9 handicap accessible spaces.

Seating Chart 

Click to view the seating chart.

During renovations this lab space will be temporarily unavailable.

Available for blended (deaf, hard-of-hearing, and hearing) modern dance class, other classes and groups.

Faculty / Staff

Erin Auble
Principal Lecturer
Fred Beam
Coordinator - Sunshine Too
Jerald Creer
Senior Staff Assistant
Joseph Fox
Marketing Communications Specialist
Joseph Hamilton
Stagecraft Manager
585-475-6248
Andy Head
Assistant Professor
Rosie Mazique
Costume and Props Manager
Amber Mattice
Senior Staff Assistant
Denise Morgan
Senior Staff Specialist
585-475-6069
Eric Moslow
Technical Director

Contact Us

Please use the form below to send us any questions about NTID Performing Arts. Your question will be routed to the appropriate faculty/staff member for a response. You can also reach us by phone at 585-475-4219 (voice), 585-283-2630 (videophone), or fax us at 585-475-6787.

Contact Info
585-475-4219 (V)
585-283-2630 (VP)
585-475-6787 (Fax)
ntidperformingarts@rit.edu

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Latest Performing Arts News & Articles

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Read the full report (PDF).

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