The National Theatre of the Deaf used to be a source of pride in the deaf community, but in recent years it has become just sad and pitiful.
More than 10 years have passed since the NTD mounted a mainstage production and sent it on the road, which one might argue is their main reason to exist. Instead, all they do now is maintain the "Little Theatre of the Deaf," which consists of three performers named Christina, Chris and Chrissy who skip around and wave their arms in school cafegymnatoriums in front of cheesy, primary-colored backgrounds.
It has been more than 25 years since the "Deaf President Now" protest at Gallaudet University established the precedent that deaf organizations should be run by deaf people. Yet two years ago the NTD appointed a hearing person to be the director without allowing any deaf candidates to apply.
The previous director had been deaf. When he resigned in 2011, the NTD board appointed a hearing "interim" director and spent the next year doing nothing. No search at all for a new director. And then they just handed that hearing person the $65,000-a-year job on a silver platter.
As the former executive director of Deaf Artists of America, Inc., I find the NTD's current operations to be deplorable and unacceptable. I think the organization should be shunned, and no donations made, until the board opens up the director's position again and makes a point to choose a deaf person to run the theater.
Let me clarify that a hearing person as director would be acceptable if he or she did a good job. But the current director is remarkably incompetent. Look at their website calendar -- you will see entire months in which nothing happened at all. The last time they sent out a news release was eight months ago. Their Facebook page has almost 6,500 fans but until recently they would go months at a time without posting anything.
I'd also like to point out that I expressed interest in serving on their board, even though it would require a lot of driving from where I live to where the board meets. My expression of interest went totally ignored. I also wrote a detailed report on how the NTD could get back on track by focusing on earned income instead of handouts. It, too, went basically ignored.
Disgusted, I started a Facebook page called "Let's Make the National Theatre of the Deaf Good Again." Tons of helpful suggestions have been posted, but have resulted in no response from the NTD at all.
The NTD in its current state is a truly pathetic organization that does not deserve support. It needs a clean sweep of staff and board. Anything else is just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
Review from Guidestar