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Hello! I’m Nicki Runge, Artistic Director of Rocky Mountain Deaf Theatre.
Our business is located in Colorado.
Rocky Mountain Deaf Theatre, or RMDT,
was founded after my years of travels and experience
with both Deaf and Hearing theatres in various regions.
I was mostly involved in Hearing shows where I typically had small roles,
and some ensemble roles where I was part of the show but did not have any lines.
I was involved with NTD’s (the National Theatre of the Deaf) Summer Program.
I was involved with Deaf West Theatre too.
I found out there’s one in Washington State too, Deaf Spotlight.
I know an employee of one company in New York, New York Deaf Theatre.
That's all there are, and it's really a small number.
There aren’t enough Deaf Theatres established around the country.
The East Coast has some,
the West Coast has some,
but the entire middle of the country has...
none!
So we established ourselves in Colorado.
During my planning stages,
I contacted the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services (DVRS).
Now, I was eager to found a non-profit organization, but they told me they would finance me as an LLC.
My contract with them was for two years.
I complied in establishing an LLC, which was really challenging for me.
I’m only one person with many responsibilities and roles.
I brought in many wonderful Deaf people who have been involved as volunteers,
and I’ve brought in interpreters/voice interpreters.
I appreciate the support of these Coloradans.
They’ve contributed and worked hard through many ups and downs over the last two years.
This year, my agreement with DVRS ended and I began the process of becoming a non-profit.
It will take three years to complete the process.
There’s paperwork, assembling a board of directors, hiring people, etc.
At the same time, I’m taking classes to understand the differences between being an LLC and a non-profit organization.
Also during these three years, I want RMDT to start touring.
You noticed this first state has four RMDT stamps:
those four cities were our warm-ups to get RMDT ready for wider travels.
We’ve prepared two productions.
One is a full-length, 2-hour show called “Shirley Valentine”.
It’s a one-woman show.
The other character is a wall.
Those are the two characters in the play, and they do converse with each other.
It’s about life, dreams, the desire to travel, and to go to Greece,
which I think is a perfect fit for RMDT. We’re traveling and Shirley is traveling.
So that’s a full-length play.
And it’s a funny show, and really moving.
Sometimes it’s nerve-racking, and sometimes foolish.
There is a great variety of emotions in the show, which is performed in beautiful American Sign Language (ASL).
The other production is “Six Women in Search of a Perfect Play” written by Raymond Luczak, a Deaf playwright.
He first wrote it as a Hearing show, but he re-wrote it as a Deaf story for RMDT.
It exposes ASL students to six different types of signing like SEE, PSE, ASL,
and artistic-abstract ASL, which is impossible for the voice interpreter to follow because it’s so abstract.
So there’s that range of signing styles.
It’s a good way for ASL students to learn how to work with a variety of signers.
So that’s “Six Women…”
It does include a workshop covering language, theatre culture, etc.
Yes, so that’s our touring program.
Our goal is to tour widely to help RMDT learn the Deaf Culture and Deafhood of different areas so all of our staff, crew, and actors can absorb those ideas.
And for everyone in those areas to help RMDT become more established here
so we can flourish and start hiring Deaf actors, technicians, and directors;
giving them more opportunities.
I’m excited about that goal;
I hope everything goes well.
Now I’ll turn it over to my booking agent, Nouri, who does marketing and books our tour locations.
Hello! Welcome to Rocky Mountain Deaf Theatre, situated here in Denver.
I’d like to briefly introduce myself.
I’m responsible for contacting people all over the U.S. and internationally to discuss booking one or both of our productions.
I’m your main point of contact for that.
My responsibilities include contracts, negotiations, setting dates and times, flight times, etc.
I do everything from A-Z.
I’m excited and honored to be part of the RMDT team, and to watch as RMDT grows with their travels here in the U.S.,
and through their journeys internationally, to England and beyond.
To get more information, visit this website:
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at this email address:
We hope you can book a show with us, and we’ll go from there!
I want to add that our website features vlogs with videos from RMDT’s time on the road,
such as the video of their recent trip to Pueblo in southern Colorado.
The vlogs show their experiences working with the people in various cities, states, and internationally.
There’s also tour dates, so you can find when and where the touring performances will be.
There’s a lot of information on the website, including what shows happen when.
If you’re wondering about costs and what it takes to book with RMDT, I’m the person who can answer your questions.
I hope you all enjoy the touring shows, and I look forward to meeting you. Thank you, and have a good day!