January - March 2023
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About Us
National Deaf High School Theatre Festival is an educational theatrical competition for young Deaf actors across the United States.
The NDHSTF gives young Deaf performers the ability to perform on a national stage, refine their skills through competition and feedback, use ASL as their medium for acting, witness professional theatre in an accessible language, and socialize with like-minded Deaf peers.
2022 Festival
Building on the work started by Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind and National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) Sunshine 2.0 the 2022 festival partnered with Tony Award® winning Deaf West Theatre to create a truly rich experience.
Headquartered in Los Angeles, Deaf West Theatre has been performing sign language entertainment for over thirty years.
This year the festival featured newly established Theater Training
and a virtual Hand Flash Competition.
In addition, artists and educators from across the country presented workshops at this years festival. Our educators are talented, experienced and bring real-world training to the table.
The 2022 Festival had over 100 participating students from across the country and the in-person final performance was attended by over 350 people and streamed to a national audience on premiere streaming platform, Broadway On Demand.
Festival Highlights '22
National Deaf High School Competition, Handflash!
2022 Teams







2022 Instructors

Zain Ahmed
Storytelling &
Visual Vernacular

Shiann Cook
Dance
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Tyler Fortson
Dance

Harold Foxx
Comedy



Natasha Ofili
Lateefah Patterson
Theatre Acting
Sunshine 2.0 Actor
Erika Chirino
Festival
Project Manager

Fred Beam
Outreach Coordinator,
NTID Sunshine 2.0

David Kurs
Deaf West Theatre,
Artistic Director
Are you a high school teacher or administrator
that would like to register your Deaf student/s?
Students must be Deaf and enrolled in High School.
Join us next year for the 2023
National Deaf High School Theatre Festival!
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Theater Training Workshops over Zoom January-March 2023
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Virtual Competition - Videos Due March 10, 2023.
Please see https://bit.ly/Feb22VirtualComp -
In-Person Festival March 22-26, 2023, in Salt Lake City, UT at USDB
Registration Information Coming Soon
Virtual Competition Categories
MONOLOGUE
1 person, 2-4 min, from published script
DUO/TRIO
2-3 people, 3-5 min, from a published script
Ensemble
4+ people, 5-10 min, from a published script
asl artistic expression
1+ person, 1-5 min, original or borrowed ASL poetry/story/VV
Theatre arts
Mime, dance, set design, original script, makeup, editing, animation, etc.