Deaf West Theatre

Deaf West Theatre Company is a North Hollywood, California based cultural institution serving as a model for deaf theater worldwide. Deaf West Theatre Inc., was founded to directly improve and enrich the cultural lives of the 1.2 million deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals who live in the Los Angeles area. Noted for being the first professional resident Sign Language Theatre in the western half of the United States, Deaf West Theatre productions, actors and directors have won more than 80 theatre awards for artistic merit.

Founded in 1989 by Bob Hiltermann and Irene Oppenhiem, it was originally called “Fountain Theatre of the Deaf,” because their main venue was the Fountain Theatre located in Hollywood. During the first year the theater primarily taught workshops for dozens of deaf writers, directors and actors. Among the first attendees were Ed Waterstreet,CJ Jones, Anthony Natale, Terrylene Sacchetti, Richard Kendall and Phyllis French.

In 1990, the theater began to successfully present short plays. A majority of the performances were attended by casting directors (both hearing and deaf) who cast several of the performers in TV shows and films. Later, due to financial issues, Mr. Hiltermann announced that he was stepping down as the full-time Managing Director. Ed Waterstreet was chosen to take his place due to his experience with the “National Theater for the Deaf,” and he was named the theater’s first Artistic Director. They soon changed the name to “Deaf West Theater,” which was taken from the “Deaf Way Festival” in Washington D.C., where Bob Hiltermann had been the producer. Their first full-length play was “The Gin Game,” and starred Phyllis Frelich and Pat Graybill, and Bob Hiltermann starred in their successful second production, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”

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