Willy Conley
Encyclopedia
Willy Conley is an American
deaf photographer, playwright
, actor
and writer
.
for Biomedical Photographic Communication at the Rochester Institute of Technology
in Rochester
(New York
).
1982 he became a registered Biological Photographer at the University of Texas Medical Branch in conjunction with the Biological Photographic Association, Galveston, Texas. He studied under the Caribbean
poet Derek Walcott
(Nobel Prize for Literature 1992) Creative Writing
and Playwriting at the Boston University
(Massachusetts
).1991 Conley graduated there and got the Master of Arts. 1998 he got the Master of Fine Arts
for studying Interdisciplinary/Intercultural Theatre
at the Towson University
in Towson
(Maryland
).
in Washington, D.C.
Conley has been an Associate Artist with CenterStage in Baltimore(Maryland) since 1998 and an Affiliate Artist with Quest: Arts for Everyone in Lanham
(Maryland).
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
deaf photographer, playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
, actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
and writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
.
Education
1981 Conley got the Bachelor of ScienceBachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
for Biomedical Photographic Communication at the Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester Institute of Technology
The Rochester Institute of Technology is a private university, located within the town of Henrietta in metropolitan Rochester, New York, United States...
in Rochester
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
(New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
).
1982 he became a registered Biological Photographer at the University of Texas Medical Branch in conjunction with the Biological Photographic Association, Galveston, Texas. He studied under the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
poet Derek Walcott
Derek Walcott
Derek Alton Walcott, OBE OCC is a Saint Lucian poet, playwright, writer and visual artist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992 and the T. S. Eliot Prize in 2011 for White Egrets. His works include the Homeric epic Omeros...
(Nobel Prize for Literature 1992) Creative Writing
Creative writing
Creative writing is considered to be any writing, fiction, poetry, or non-fiction, that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, and technical forms of literature. Works which fall into this category include novels, epics, short stories, and poems...
and Playwriting at the Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
(Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
).1991 Conley graduated there and got the Master of Arts. 1998 he got the Master of Fine Arts
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
for studying Interdisciplinary/Intercultural Theatre
Intercultural theatre
Intercultural theater also known as Cross-cultural theatre may transcend time, while mixing and matching cultures or subcultures.-Imitational Theatre:...
at the Towson University
Towson University
Towson University, often referred to as TU or simply Towson for short, is a public university located in Towson in Baltimore County, Maryland, U.S...
in Towson
Towson
-Places:In the United States:*Towson, Maryland, an unincorporated community in Maryland**Towson Center, an arena in Towson, Maryland**Towson Town Center, a shopping mall in Towson, Maryland*Fort Towson, Oklahoma, a community in Oklahoma...
(Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
).
Artistic Activities
Conley is the most widely-produced, living Deaf playwright, his plays explore a broad palette – from the Deaf perspective – of circumstances with and without hearing characters, allowing Deaf characters to interact minus the direct influence that the dominant (hearing) culture might exert. Conley is a full professor and chairperson of the Theatre Arts Department at Gallaudet UniversityGallaudet University
Gallaudet University is a federally-chartered university for the education of the deaf and hard of hearing, located in the District of Columbia, U.S...
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
Conley has been an Associate Artist with CenterStage in Baltimore(Maryland) since 1998 and an Affiliate Artist with Quest: Arts for Everyone in Lanham
Lanham
-Places:In the United States:* Lanham, Kansas and Nebraska* Lanham, Maryland* Lanham-Seabrook, Maryland-People:* Charles T. Lanham , United States Army general* Edwin Lanham , American writer* Fritz G...
(Maryland).
Awards
- One-Act Play Award, The Sam Edwards Deaf Playwrights Competition for the play "The Hearing Test" 1990.
- American Deaf Drama Award for the plays "Broken Spokes" and "The Hearing Test" 1990.
- The Laurent ClercLaurent ClercLaurent Clerc , born Louis Laurent Marie Clerc, was called "The Apostle of the deaf in America" by generations of American deaf people...
Fund for Cultural Advancement for the play "The water falls", Gallaudet UniversityGallaudet UniversityGallaudet University is a federally-chartered university for the education of the deaf and hard of hearing, located in the District of Columbia, U.S...
1996. - First place at the "Lamia Ink! 8th Annual International One-Page Play Festival", New York 1998.
- PEW/Theatre Communications Group National Theatre Artist Residency Program grant(in conjunction with Center Stage Theatre in Baltimore) for the play "Falling On Hearing Eyes" 1999.
- VSA 2000 Playwrights Discovery Award 2000.
- Nominee for Outstanding Artist, Governor's Arts Award at ArtSalute, The State of Maryland and Maryland Citizens for the Arts Foundation 2002.
- Nominee for the National American College Theatre Festival selection for the play "Goya: en la Quinta del Sordo (in the house of the deaf man)" 2008.
Published writings
- “It Could’ve Happened to Anyone (anyone that is deaf)”, Symposium Magazine, Spring 1981, Vol. II #2.
- "Island of Intrique", Inbetween Magazine , February 1984, 20 - 22.
- "Warm and Inspiring" NTID Focus , Fall 1986, 19.
- "A Photographic Memory" Kaleidoscope - an international magazine of fine arts, literature, and disability , No. 18, Winter/Spring 1989, 16 - 18
- "Day 57 - On the Road With the National Theatre of the DeafNational Theatre of the DeafThe National Theatre of the Deaf is a touring theatre company in the United States. It was founded in 1967. Productions combine the use of American Sign Language with the spoken word. The theatre has won several awards, including the Tony Award for Theatrical Excellence...
", Uncharted , Vol. 5, No. 4, Fall 1990, 4 - 8. - "Kindergarten To College – a personal narrative", Post-Secondary Education and the Hearing Impaired Student , London, England: Routledge Publishers; 1991.
- “The Hearing Test” (one-act play). "The Seawall." "One Frame Per Second." No Walls of Stone: an anthology of literature by Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Writers, Gallaudet University Press; 1993.
- "Day 57." article quoted, Pictures in the Air , Stephen C. Baldwin, 45, 46 Gallaudet University Press; 1993.
- "The Horn." Hearing Health. Vol. 12, No. 5, Sep-Oct 1996, 9—10.
- "Coyote Bones." Modern Haiku. Winter-Spring 1997, 6.
- "Olives." Hearing Health. Vol. 14, No. 6, Nov-Dec. 1998, 40—41.
- “Disconnected.” Lamia Ink!; January 1998, 4.
- "In Search of the Perfect Sign LanguageSign languageA sign language is a language which, instead of acoustically conveyed sound patterns, uses visually transmitted sign patterns to convey meaning—simultaneously combining hand shapes, orientation and movement of the hands, arms or body, and facial expressions to fluidly express a speaker's...
Script – insights into the diverse writing styles of Deaf playwrights." Deaf World. Lois Bragg, ed; NYU Press, 2001; 147-161. - "Away from Invisibility Towards Invincibility: Issues of Deaf Theatre Artists in America." Deaf World. Lois Bragg, ed.; NYU Press, 2001; 51-67.
- “From Lipreading Ants to Flying Over Cuckoo Nests.” American Theatre. April 2001, 34-37, 60-61.
- “The Loneliest Game in the World.” Hearing Health; summer 2001.
- “Life is Short: Autobiography as Haiku; The Washington Post; Oct. 28, 2001, F1.
- “Bicyclists Welcome.” The Baltimore Sun; Mar. 10, 2002, 3R.
- “The water falls. – a play” The Tactile Mind; Autumn 2002, 22-77.
- “Every Man Must Fall.” “Salt in the Basement.” “The Cycle of the X-Ray Technician.” “The Perfect Woman.” The Deaf Way II Anthology; 2002, 171-188.
- “Sifting Dirt.” The Tactile Mind; Winter 2002- 2003, 12-19.
- “Broken Spokes – a play.” The Tactile Mind; 2003.
- “Olives.” The Tactile Mind; Spring 2003, 33-39.
- “The Universal Drum – a visual poem with drum accompaniment.” Theatre for Young Audiences Today; v17, n2, 2003, 10.
- “America Needs More Visual Theatre!” Opening Stages; The Kennedy Center; Mar. 2005; 10-12.
- “Untitled.” Stages of Transformation: Collaborations of the National Theatre Artist Residency Program; Charlotte Stoudt, ed; Theatre Communications Group, 2005; 113.
- “The Face of Grace.” Urbanite; Dec. 2006; 25.
- “Signing the Body Poetic.” University of California Press; Chapter 10: Visual Screaming: Willy Conley’s Deaf Theater and Charlie Chaplin’s Silent Cinema by Carol Robinson; writings quoted (195-215); video interview in enclosed book DVD; 2007.
- “With Enthusiasm – All Things Great.” Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education; Book Review, Feb. 25, 2008; 0: enn002v1-enn002.
- “Deaf American Poetry.” John Lee Clark, ed.; Gallaudet University Press; poems; 2009; 190-197.
- “Vignettes of the Deaf Character and Other Plays.” Twelve plays by Willy Conley; Gallaudet University Press; 2009.
Theatre plays
- "Broken Spokes" New York Deaf Theatre, 1990.
- "The Hearing Test" Boston Playwrights Theatre, Boston University (under the direction of Derek WalcottDerek WalcottDerek Alton Walcott, OBE OCC is a Saint Lucian poet, playwright, writer and visual artist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992 and the T. S. Eliot Prize in 2011 for White Egrets. His works include the Homeric epic Omeros...
), 1991. - "Olives" 10th Annual NeWorks Theatre Festival, New Theatre, Boston, 1999.
- "Disconnected" directed by Herbert GantschacherHerbert GantschacherHerbert Gantschacher is an Austrian director and producer and writer.- Education :...
and performed at The First European and International Deaf Theatre Festival presented by ARBOS - Company for Music and Theatre at the Theater des Augenblicks 2000, Vienna, Austria; included a tour in Vienna and Salzburg(Austria). - "The Fallout Shelter" The John F. Kennedy Center Theatre Lab, Washington, D.C., 2000.
- "Falling on Hearing Eyes: a museum of Sign /anguish for People with Communication Disorders" Amaryllis Theatre Company & National Theatre of the Deaf, Philadelpha and Deaf Way II, Washington, D.C., 2002.
- "Goya – en la Quinta del Sordo (in the house of the deaf man)" co-written with Iosif Schneiderman, Deaf Way II, Washington D.C., 2002.
- "The water falls" Quest: Arts for Everyone; Onley, 2003.
- "Oh, Figaro!" National Theatre of the Deaf, Hartford, 2003.
- "Tales from India" Imagination Stage, Bethesda, 2004.
- "The Universal Drum" Imagination Stage, Bethesda, 2004; directed by Herbert Gantschacher and performed at The Eleventh European and International Deaf Theatre Festival presented by ARBOS - Company for Music and Theatre at the Tanz Atelier 2011, Vienna(Austria).
Literature
- Carol Robinson "Visual Screaming: Willy Conley’s Deaf Theater and Charlie Chaplin’s Silent Cinema", 2007.