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Robert DeMayo, an actor, educator,
and ASL transliterator, is a Connecticut native. He currently resides
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Robert happily travels across the country acting, educating,
and consulting in both theatre and film projects. He is excited
to bring his talent to your community.
• Statistics
• Education and
Introduction to the Theatre
• One Man Show
• Film and Video
• ASL Storytelling
• Educator
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Education and Introduction
to the Theatre
Robert is a graduate of the American School for the Deaf in West
Hartford, where he first began performing as a clown in a troupe
called, The Silent Alley. He attended the National
Technical Institute for the Deaf in Rochester, NY (NTID/RIT)
for graphic design.
While there, he became involved with their productions of The
Adding Machine and An Italian Straw Hat. This led him to joining
a professional
touring company, Sunshine
Too – Theatre on Tour for two seasons
and later the Cleveland’s
Fairmount Theatre of the Deaf (now Cleveland
Sign Stage Theatre).
Robert was trained in Acting at NTID/RIT
Theatre and the Professional Theatre
School of the National
Theatre of the Deaf.
Robert toured with the National
Theatre of the Deaf for six seasons in main-stage
and young audience shows. He starred
in many noteworthy productions including: One More Spring,
Treasure Island, Ophelia, In A Grove, Under Milkwood, Spinning
Man: Life
of Dylan Thomas, An Italian Straw Hat, Profile of a Deaf
Peddler, and Shakespeare Unmasked.
Robert
became the Artistic Director and an actor for the New
York Deaf Theatre, Inc. While
there,
he played Hamlet in a production called, What If Hamlet Was
Deaf? He helped to found the Deaf community theater, Sound
Off Theatre.
With this theater, he directed and acted in a murder mystery
dinner theater, Paged by Murder, Who Sent It? This play featured
two different
endings to keep the play fresh and exciting for audiences.
Robert worked with a team of ASL translators to transliterate
Shakespeare’s
Twelfth Night. After his work on Twelfth Night, Robert
continued to collaborate with the Amaryllis
Theatre Company in Philadelphia, PA. In
addition, he transliterated and performed in the play, Perfection
Unspeakable for Caliban
Productions, LLC of Philadelphia.
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One-Man-Show
Robert wrote and performs an autobiographical one-man show,
Me Hear None, which he performs nationally. Me Hear None
involves a series of skits about his childhood attending a
Deaf residential
school through daily life as a Deaf adult. The show includes
Sign Dance songs and two non-signing performance art pieces – Circle
of Life about the human life cycle, birth through death,
and The Wall a memorial to war veterans. Robert currently
is writing a
new show entitled, Red, encompassing both the color itself
and the emotions associated with the color.
Interested in purchasing Me Hear None on
DVD? Contact Robert and he will let
you know when it becomes available.
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Film and Video
For the feature film, Universal
Signs,
Robert had
multiples roles as actor, ASL consultant and ASL coach.
As the production’s
ASL coach, he taught many of the hearing actors sign language
including: Sabrina
Lloyd,
Margot
Kidder,
Ashlyn
Sanchez,
and Robert
Hogan. He even taught sign language to writer/director,
Ann
Calamia and
producer, Catherine
Miller. As the film’s ASL consultant,
Robert was on set every day at the monitor with Ann Calamia,
the director. He made
sure that
the actors’ signs were not only accurate, but also
always visible on screen. When transliterating the script,
he took into
account the background of all of the signing characters;
he used this to choose the type of signing that each actor
would perform.
For instance, the mainstreamed son of two hearing parents
would sign differently from a Deaf man of Deaf parents
who is well integrated
into Deaf culture. When the native signer watches the film,
he/she will note the subtle differences in sign language
among the characters;
these variances add a deeper level of communication, authenticity,
and meaning to the story. In addition, Robert assisted
with both script supervision on set and captioning of the
film in post-production.
Robert worked with the St. Francis
Children Hospital to
produce a video entitled, Do?
Tell! Child Abuse.
Robert transliterated, interpreted, and preformed the stories
of two young boys who struggled with abuse. Most recently,
Robert contributed his talent to the Deaf Entertainers
Documentary,
See
What I’m Saying,
by Wordplay, Inc. This documentary celebrates the artistry
of Deaf
entertainers from across the United States.
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ASL
Storytelling
Robert is an expert in ASL storytelling for children. As
an artist in residence, he taught Drama to the children
at the
Pennsylvania
School for the Deaf (PSD). He continually
is asked to share his children’s storytelling talent
at the Clearwater
Festival and other festivals
nationwide.
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Educator
Robert is an advocate for AIDS education
and teaches an AIDS and sexual signs workshop for interpreters,
medical professionals,
and clients. He welcomes the opportunity to share this
valuable information with both the hearing and Deaf
community.
Robert is a crusader for sign language and
teaches ASL Total Immersion programs in Connecticut and
Arizona. ASL Total Immersion is a program for ASL students,
from beginner to advanced, in which students spend
a week learning
sign language
in an environment where they are not allowed to voice.
As a drama educator, he also taught Non-Verbal Body
Movement at Playwright
Horizons of NYU.
Most recently, he taught theater interpreting at
the
famous Juilliard in New York.
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