ELIZABETH MORRIS
PERFORMER

Elizabeth Morris is a Deaf actor (ACTRA and CAEA). She lived in England, Japan, USA (Ohio), and Canada (Ontario). She was a part of two Deaf theatre tour companies in USA; Quest for Arts & National Theatre of the Deaf. In 2015, She co-founded Deaf Spirit Theatre. Since 2017, they had been involved with Sound Off Festival. Recently, she performed in Citadel Theatre’s “Tempest” and and played the lead in Concrete Theatre’s “Songs that My Mother Never Sung Me”. Besides an actor, she is also a Deaf Community consultant, Deaf Interpreter and ASL coach for theatre and films. She has a master degree in Inclusive Design; focusing on creating live theatre to be more accessible and inclusive for Deaf and Hard of Hearing, including their families and friends.

HAYLEY HUDSON
PERFORMER

Hayley Hudson is a Deaf actor and dancer, originally from Coaldale, Alberta. Currently, she living in Kingston, Ontario. Growing up in musical family and having grandfather loving to recite poetry as where she got her passion for performing from. Growing up, she always wanted to perform. Taking a drama course in junior high school was when she realized that she wanted to be an actor. She danced for 8 years and won several awards in a dance competition. She graduated at a theatre school in Rosebud, Alberta. She had been in several community theatre’s productions, which allowed her to perform in American Sign Language (ASL). She moved to Ontario, to pursue her dream in becoming an actor. She is very excited to direct first time with the Deaf Spirit Theatre’s Deaf Cabret as director. Hayley has been in “The Tempest” at Citadel Theatre as Ariel with Deaf and hearing actors. Is thrilled to direct this production for SOUND OFF and appear somewhere in the show, hope you find me. Enjoy the show. Will see you next year hopefully. She currently lives in Kingston with her husband, her three kids and two cats.

THERESA UPTON
PERFORMER

Theresa Upton is a Deaf actor, playwright,  and co-founder of Deaf Spirit Theatre in Kingston, Ontario. She is also a poet, creative writer, and storyteller. She is originally from Saint John, New Brunswick. She grew up in a musical family. She had participated in school’s productions. She was the only Deaf person in her large family, who resided in rural of New Brunswick. In 1980, she moved to Sir James Whitney School for the Deaf in Belleville, Ontario. Since 1985, she lives in Kingston, Ontario. She is the mother of two adults and a grandmother of a toddler.

Theresa had been teaching ASL for nearly 30 years; in private sessions, public education system, college, and university. She is also an artist who creates a range of ASL stories, ASL poetry/poems, translating songs/children’s books into ASL. In 2019, Theresa went with a group of researchers to Edmonton to do a research project on the Citadel Theatre’s production of “The Tempest”. 

Theresa is also a Direct Support Worker with Community Living Kingston. She acts as a Deaf interpreter and facilitator for intellectually and dual diagnosis clients.

ROBERT BHOLA
PERFORMER

Robert Bhola is hard of hearing, raised in a Deaf family and raising a Deaf family. He has been involved with the Ottawa Deaf Centre and Ottawa Deaf Sports Club in the past. He has also taught Sign Language for several years in Ontario at Algonquin College in Ottawa, Loyalist College in Belleville, and the Canadian Hearing Society. Currently he has a degree as a Child and Youth Worker and is a Residential Support Counsellor at Sir James Whitney. This year he is pursuing his passion for the Arts by expressing his creative perspective of a variety of songs in Sign Language.

JUAN JARAMILLO
PERFORMER

Juan Jaramillo was born in Colombia. As a young child, he moved to Ontario, Canada. For nine years, he used to work as a Provincial Advocator for children and youth, within the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. He was a Deaf performer in Dancing Hands’ group and was its co-founder. It was a Deaf troupe. Since 1992, he performed with songs in ASL, short skits, and dancing. He performed in various events such as fundraisings, community, and weddings. In 2012, he performed at the World Deaf Athletics Champions. In 2017 and 2018, he performed at the NHL 100 Winter/Centennial Classic for the Canadian and USA National anthems in American Sign Language. He looks forward to performing at the SOUND OFF festival!

ALEXANDRA HICKOX

DESIGNER / STAGE MANAGER

Alexandra Hickox is an emerging artist who works in photography and videos. Currently, she is in her third year in Master’s program of film production at York University in Toronto, Ontario. In 2014, she graduated at Ontario College Arts and Design University, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in photography and integrated media minor. Her experiences with technical programs for film production, include After Effects, Final Cut Pro, and stop motion capture. She has some experiences with using a variety of digital cameras. She worked with a Bolex camera, including hand development. She is currently working on creating videos for Deaf Spirit Theatre’s production, as well as their stage manager. Alexandra’s thesis is based on creating a short film about Deaf people’s culture and language. She is a member of the SuroalGals filmmaking collective, creating works about issues of Deaf cultures. In the summer of 2012, she worked with John Greyson, on Jerchio/Bagdad as his set photographer’s assistant. She is enjoying her experiences with new things and working in a variety kind of environments. She is still developing more skills in filming and photography.

JOSE GASPAR SANABRIA

ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER

He was born in Mexico City, term the studies until the Bachelor of Business Administration at the University of the Valley of Mexico and comes from generations with hearing problems (deafness) from his great grandparents, grandparents, parents and brothers.

He previously served as President of the Mexican Federation of the Deaf, AC FEMESOR in the year 2009-2016 and the Member Directing Council of the World Federation of the Deaf WFD, for a period of 4 years, which was elected during the XVI World Congress of the Deaf in Durban,  South Africa, in July 2011.

Since 2006-2016, he has been working with various government Institutions, such as: Education, Health, Human Rights, Work, Accessibility, Legal Assistance, Certification of Interpretations, Sensitization Courses and Advice in the National Council for People with Disabilities.

He currently resides in Kingston, ON and since 2017 he has been collaborating with Deaf Spirit Theatre.