(1934-2006)
Gil Eastman was an alumnus of the American School for the Deaf and Gallaudet University. He founded the Theatre department at Gallaudet, where he directed and inspired many young Deaf actors.
He was involved in the founding of the National Theatre of the Deaf (NTD). Eastman wrote and produced several Deaf plays. Sign Me Alice(inspired by Pygmalion and My Fair Lady) is an important work examining the Tower of Communication Babel with the onslaught of various sign systems being utilized in Deaf education and later wrote Sign Me Alice II. He also wrote Laurent Clerc: A Profile, about the famous French Deaf teacher who came to the U.S. to help Thomas Gallaudet found the American School for the Deaf and who is often credited as bringing French Sign Language to Deaf Americans. He wrote several other plays, directed numerous productions, and taught many theatre classes.
Eastman became a Deaf American household figure entering our homes as one of the hosts for the Deaf Mosaic news program, which was produced by Gallaudet University. He also helped to develop the concept of Visual Gestural Communication (VCG) to more deeply examine visual communication and theatrics.
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