Program Description
Event Details
Join Deaf actor, dancer, and choreographer Christopher Smith for an afternoon of conversation and performance about his life and career as a performing artist, his triple identity as Deaf, Queer and Black, and growing up Black and Deaf in America. Mr. Smith has worked in many stage and dance productions including, Deaf Side Story, and Ain’t Misbehaving. He has appeared in independent films by directors Jade Bryan and Zeinabu Irene Davis. Mr. Smith will also perform excerpts from his current one-man show, Lena & Me, about how the work of pioneer performer and civil rights activist Lena Horne helped him to discover his true self.
Simultaneous interpretation in American Sign Language (ASL) and English will be provided. Registration encouraged. Please scroll down.
About Christopher Smith
Deaf since birth, Christopher Smith has pursued a career as a dancer, choreographer, and actor. His dance credits include the Sixth Sense performers in Chicago, the Joseph Holmes School of Dance, Dance Space, the American Deaf Dance Theatre Company, the Gallaudet University Dance Company, and the Dayton Institute of the Arts. He’s performed with the innovative internationally known Wild Zappers noted for being an all-male, all-Deaf, African-American dance company. Mr. Smith is also well-known for his work as the choreographer for Deaf Side Story, a bi-lingual musical production in English and ASL.
As an actor, Christopher has worked with the National Theatre of the Deaf, the Sunshine Too Theatre Company, Deaf West Theatre, Centerlight Theatre, Chicago Dramatists' Workshop, and the Intiman Theater. Film work includes Compensation starring Michele A. Banks and directed by Zeinabu Irene Davis, and It Takes the Light to Make the City directed by Louis Antonelli.
As an instructor, Christopher has worked at the Rochester Institute of Technology Dance Company, the San Antonio Summer Deaf Dance Camp, and the Seattle Theater's Deaf Youth Drama Program. More recently, he’s taught dance to young adults for the International Creative Camp and worked as a Black Deaf Advocate in Chicago. He’s also choreographed selections from Dreamgirls for several productions hosted by Black Deaf Advocates.
Christopher’s final dance role was as Larry in A Chorus Line in 2014. During the production, he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis which has sidelined his dancing. In recent years, due to the rigorous physical challenges of dance, he’s focused his energies on education and the theatre. Quite recently, he's had a short piece, Lena & Me, published in Eyes of Desire II: A Deaf LGBT Reader, which he has since developed into his current one-man show.