Imagine NOTES
April 10-11, 2015
Presents
Imagination Celebration’s Special Weekend for the Deaf celebrates its twenty-fifth year in
2015! This program began when a zealous Deaf Education teacher named Dianne Fisher endeavored
to find funding to bring the National Theatre for the Deaf’s performance of Treasure Island to her students in Fort Worth. What began as a single performance turned into a weekend of fine arts workshops, a dance, and the bringing together of Deaf and Hard of Hearing students all over the state of
Texas.
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During the past twenty-five years, we have seen the talented performances of artists such as
the late Chuck Baird, and Phyllis Frelich. We’ve Experienced Deaf Culture with Anthony Natale, Ty
Giordano, Peter Cook, Troy Kotsur, Deanne Bray, Keith Wann, J. J. Jones, and Bernard Bragg. We’ve
danced alongside Fred Beam and the Wild Zappers, and felt the heart -pounding music and sign performance of Sean Forbes. We have painted, sketched, and sculpted with Matt Daigle, Janet Morrow,
Charles Wildbank, Alex Wilhite, and Tony McGregor. We’ve shaken the foundations with the Taiko
Drummers, the Mondo Drummers, Judy Holloway, and Tom McDermott. We have walked in the shoes
of Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew), been entertained by the genius of Pixar animators, gazed at the stars
with the Fort Worth Science and History Museum, seen the Elizabethan era unfold with Dianne Simons, and been introduced to Native American culture as well as our own rich Texas Heritage by the
many passionate historical preservation groups of Fort Worth. We have borne witness to the inspiring stories of Heather Whitestone, the first deaf Miss America, and Justin Osmond, who both overcame familiar but nonetheless challenging obstacles. We have been to the stars and back!
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The Imagination Celebration planning committee, and the Imagination Fort Worth staff thank
you, your teachers and interpreters, the artists, and the many volunteers it takes to make this weekend possible. Most of all, this program could not have sustained itself through a quarter-century without the dedication of our Co-Founder, Mrs. Dianne Fisher.
We welcome you to the twenty-fifth anniversary weekend of Imagination Celebration (now
Imagination Fort Worth), and hope that you have a wonderful time!
Dianne Fisher, Co-founder of
Imagination Celebration Special Weekend for the Deaf
(now Imagination Fort Worth), has dedicated
her life’s work to students who are deaf and
hard of hearing. She has served the Deaf Education Community for many years as a supervisor both in Abilene and Birdville, Texas, respectively.
Dianne has been an integral part of the
Statewide Conference on Education of the
Deaf and Hard of Hearing, and is also the cofounder of Texas Association of Parents and
Educators of the Deaf (TAPED), and received
their Lifetime Achievement Award. Currently, she is a part of the national training staff for
the SKI*HI Institute which trains teachers to work with parents of newly identified Deaf and
Hard of Hearing infants.
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Though Dianne is now retired from the classroom, she enjoys spending time with her husband, Ben, their two grown children and their grandchildren.
On behalf of the Imagination Fort Worth Planning committee and staff, as well as teachers
and students across Texas, we thank you, Dianne, for your continued commitment to this
program, which brings fellowship and the arts together in such a positive atmosphere. Our
hats are off to you!
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Workshops this year include:
 Dance with Fred Beam and Invisible Hands
 Watercolors with Sean Moore
 Cartoon Art with Matt Daigle
 Storytelling with Peter Cook
 Sign to Music with Amber Galloway
 Drama with National Theatre for the Deaf crew
 Art with Janet Morrow
 Comedy with Kent Kennedy
 Drumming with Fort Worth’s Mondo Drummers
 String Art with Kelli Mirus
Fred Beam and Invisible Hands: Invisible Hands International’s own dance companies, the National Deaf
Dance Theatre (NDDT) and the Wild Zappers (WZ) are unique professional dance troupes that were founded in
the late 80s. These groups blend a high energy dance with American Sign Language and theatre. NDDT/WZ believes that dance and theatre should be enlightening as well as entertaining within the deaf/hard of hearing
and hearing communities.
NDDT/WZ is one of the foundations that help several performing arts groups surviving over a long period of
time. The oldest company in IHI, NDDT strives to enrich the lives of those who are deaf and hard of hearing in
the world of professional arts. WZ is an all male dance company that was established after NDDT bringing focus, sign language, energetic movements, and the beauty of dance in one uplifting experience for all. NDDT
takes that to the next level.
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The National Deaf Dance Theatre and the Wild Zappers have toured and taught workshops nationally and internationally, including several cities in Japan, China, Finland, France, Australia, South America, England, the Virgin Islands, and Jamaica, as well as the United States.
Peter S. Cook is an internationally reputed Deaf performing artist whose
works incorporates American Sign Language, pantomime, storytelling, acting, and movement.
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Peter has traveled extensively around the country and aboard with Flying Words Project to promote ASL Literature with Kenny Lerner since
1986. Peter has appeared in Live from Off Center’s “Words on
Mouth” (PBS) and “ United States of Poetry” (PBS) produced by Emmy winner Bob Holman. Peter teaches at Columbia College where he received the
1997 Excellence in Teaching award. In 1998, Peter set up a video production called PC Production and now based in Chicago.
Peter was featured nationally in festivals such as the Jonesboro National
Storytelling festival , Oklahoma City Winter Tales, Illinois Storytelling Festival, Indiana Hoosier Storytelling Festival, Eugene Oregon Multi-Cultural
Festival, and The Deaf Way II and the Millennium Stage at the Kennedy
Center in Washington, D.C.
Peter was invited to the White House to join the National Book Festival
in 2003. Internationally, Peter has worked with Deaf storytellers/poets in
Sweden, Norway, Denmark ,Netherlands, Austria and Japan.
Peter lives in Chicago and teaches in ASL-English Interpretation Department at Columbia College. He loves to tell stories to his son.
Matt Daigle is a professional cartoonist with over 11 years of experience. He is the creator of a single panel cartoon series called In Deaf Culture… and Deaf Reel, and as well as
the popular webcomic That Deaf Guy on which he collaborates with his hearing wife,
Kay. Daigle has published two humor books, Adventures in Deaf Culture and Extreme
Interpreting, and is currently working on selecting material for his new book based on
his webcomic, That Deaf Guy. Matt lives in Burbank, California with his wife and son.
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Amber Galloway-Gallego is an American Sign Language Interpreter who specializes in music. In an article by the Houston
Chronicle, “With a rapper’s swagger, she lets it fly, signing rapidfire lyrics. She’s hired to stand at the side of the stage and interpret Madonna and Paul McCartney, Lady Gaga and Rage Against
the Machine for deaf audience members. She works South by
Southwest every year, and she is in high demand at music festivals such as Austin City Limits and Lollapalooza.”
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Amber learned sign language at an early age, and began to realize her life’s purpose of interpreting music when she was immersed in the deaf community in San Antonio. She eventually
became the coordinator in charge of arranging interpreters for
the San Antonio rodeos.
She moved to Houston in 2005, and teaches sign language interpretation at Houston Community College, Lone Star College, and
Lamar University.
Kent Kennedy– A loyal Texas native, who attended Rochester Institute of Technology/National Technical Institute for the Deaf in New
York, resides in Austin and is married to a native Austinite, Connie.
He is the proud father of two beautiful Deaf daughters. He has tutored and taught ASL at Austin Community College, and for the Austin Sign Language School, and Texas Education Agency– Communication Skills Workshop. He has worked closely with Interpreters for
almost thirty years. He served the Deaf Community as the vicepresident and president respectively for the national Association of
the Deaf. He has always enjoyed teasing people playfully, and loves
incorporating that into his stand up comedy.
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Kelli Williams-Mirus-Born in Dallas, she has been deaf all her life. A
graduate of the Art Institute of Dallas in 1984, she went on to perform
and direct shows such as Come Blow Your Horn, Marriage Proposal,
and Deafanza for various Deaf events. She also taught deaf students in
art and theatre classes. She currently studies at Collin County Community College. She launched “Kelli’s Art Studio” page on Facebook a few
months ago. She married her high school sweetheart, and has four
children, two of whom are away at college. Kelli enjoys spending time
in her art studio, shopping at garage sales and flea markets, and traveling. You can find her on the web at www.facebook.com/
deafartstudio.
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MONDO Drummers– Since 1994, MONDO has provided 16 years of hand drum and percussion instruction for
over 5,000 children in Fort Worth and Tarrant County at its studio in the Fairmount neighborhood. Advanced
MONDO students have performed for over 600.000 residents at over 700 events. They will be providing a hands
-on drumming workshop to students this weekend. You can find more information about their program at
www.mondodrummers.com.
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Sean Moore– A veteran science and math teacher at Texas School for
the Deaf (TSD). Sean grew up in a deaf family and was raised on the
East Coast. He received a Bachelor of Science in biology and a minor in
chemistry at Gallaudet University. After graduating from Gallaudet, he
worked for the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration where he enjoyed a career as a data analyst for four years. An opportunity to teach students at TSD came “knocking on his door” five
years ago, and he was called to take it. He now teaches biology, chemistry, physics, and Algebra 2 at Texas School for the Deaf, and loves living
in Austin.
Janet Morrow creates art that is conceptual in nature, utilizing
whatever medium, or combination of media, is most appropriate to
communicate the idea or insight.
Some of her work serves to comment on the idiosyncrasies of our
culture. From these themes has emerged a series playing with cake
imagery. Says Morrow, "We have a visceral reaction to the image of
a cake that is celebratory in nature. When you tamper with that
reaction by creating cakes from unexpected materials about which
we have ambivalent feelings, interesting responses occur."
Other work examines themes of deafness, disability and otherness
and what it means to occupy a non-normative body in a culture
where normality is narrowly defined.
Morrow holds a BFA in theatre from SMU and an MFA in Intermedia Studio from the University of Texas at Arlington. Her work has
been exhibited at Surface Gallery in Nottingham, England, Access
Gallery in Austin, The Smithsonian International Gallery in Washington, D.C., Circle Gallery at The Maryland Foundation of Art in
Annapolis, Maryland, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, The
Long Beach Island Foundation in Loveladies, New Jersey, Altered
Esthetics Gallery in Minneapolis and many other venues. She
serves as a Lecturer at The University of Texas at Arlington and
Tarrant County College Northeast Campus.
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National Theatre of the Deaf- (NTD) is a professional acting company made up of deaf and hearing actors.
Established in 1967, The National Theatre of the Deaf brought Sign Language out of the shadows and placed it
in the world spotlight, raising it to the level of an art form. The theatre’s signature style, a combination of Sign
Language and spoken words, has expanded the boundaries of theatrical expression. This double-sensory style
enables hearing audiences to see words as they are spoken.
Touring the nation and the world for over 45 years, the acting company is comprised of deaf and hearing actors. Each performance unfolds simultaneously in two languages; one for the eye, American Sign Language,
and one for the ear, the Spoken Word.
Imagination Fort Worth presents
Peter Cook
One Night Only
Saturday, April 11, 2015
McKinney Church
4805 Arborlawn Drive
Fort Worth, Texas 76109
7:00 p.m.
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Tickets $15
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Peter Cook, an internationally known Deaf performing artist, has thrilled audiences on both sides of
our continent with his superb storytelling skill incorporating American Sign Language, pantomime,
acting, and movement. You won’t want to miss this night of a truly unique American talent.
Sign to Voice Interpreters:
Josh Bonjour and Michael Bothel
For Ticket information:
817-870-1141
https://eventbrite.com/event/15624290674/
Imagination Celebration
DRAFT AGENDA
Updated- Feb 26, 2015
Special Weekend for the Deaf
April 10-11, 2015
Friday, April 10, 2015
10:30-11:30
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Check in-Tarrant County College, Trinity River Campus
300 Trinity Campus Circle, Fort Worth 76102 (Fourth Floor)
11:45-1:15
Welcome & Opening Performance--TCC Energy Auditorium (Fourth
1:30-2:30
Workshop 1
2:45-3:45
Workshop 2
4:00-5:00
Workshop 3
5:00-5:30
Travel to Fort Worth Radisson North Hotel
Floor)
2540 Meacham Blvd., Ft. Worth, TX
5:30-6:00
School Representative pick up hotel keys at Imagination Celebration table in hotel
6:30-7:30
7:30-10:30
10:30
10:45
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Dinner in Ballroom
Dance (DJ-Calvin Nagy)
Pick up pizzas and drinks
Curfew - All students are restricted to their assigned rooms
Saturday, April 11, 2015
7:00-8:30
8:30-9:00
Breakfast
Travel back to TCC-Trinity River Campus
9:00-10:00
Workshop 4
10:15-11:15
Workshop 5
11:30-12:30
Box lunches (Main Floor)
12:30-2:00
Final Performance (Energy Ballroom- TCC)
Pizzas will again be available for $8 each. Please make sure you pre-order at
the registration table and pay. Pizzas will be ready for pick up after the
dance on Friday night. Soft drinks will be for sale for $1 each. Gluten-free
option may be available. Price may vary. Ask at the registration table.
T-shirts will be for sale with the winning Imagination Celebration art for
2015! T-shirts will be $10 each. Design will be on a black t– shirt. Cash and
checks accepted.
Programs available this year, free of charge, for the students to collect
names and autographs of friends and artists met.
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Helpful websites and links:
Information on Matt Daigle– check out his FB page
Fred Beam’s website—www.invisiblehands.com
Peter Cook’s website– www.deafpetercook.com
MONDO Drummers—www.mondodrummers.com
Kelli Williams-Mirus– www.facebook.com/deafartstudio
Janet Morrow- www.defcakelady.com/Home_Page.html
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Remember to “Find us on Facebook!” www.facebook.com/Imagination
Celebration Special Weekend for the Deaf. Also follow us on Twitter!
@ICFW.
Peter Cook’s performance is not included in the Imagination Fort
Worth Weekend. However, proceeds from his performance will benefit
the Imagination Fort Worth program. There will also be an auction for
a piece of artwork from Matt Daigle.