Silent Dinner, 2015. Photo Henry Chan.
Canada
Christopher Welsh is an energetic and positive Deaf role model. He is a Toronto-based performer who has been entertaining audiences young and old alike for many years. He trained with the National Theatre of the Deaf in Chester, Connecticut in 1984 and studied improvisation at Second City in Toronto in 1988. That same year, he was the first deaf comedian to perform before a hearing audience at Yuk-Yuks in Toronto. He has also performed with the “Show Of Hands” Theatre Company in their national tours in 1988 and 1989.
From 1988 to the present, through his company Vibrisign and Wavehands, Christopher has toured his one-man show employing puppetry and mime, across Canada to various schools and festivals performing for children and adults of all ages. He also has given theatrical workshops on topics such as mime, improvisation, the use of facial expression, sign language workshops, and Visual Gestural communication workshops called “Mime to Sign”.
Christopher has appeared on television on YTV’s Treehouse and TV Ontario programs featuring ASL Storytelling, and most recently has worked with Shakespeare Link Canada to translate American Sign Language to English and Classic English and mini Deaf Theatre.
