User:Smahdee/Patricia Trix Bruce

Patricia "Trix" Bruce is a poet and American Sign Language (ASL) performer living in Seattle, Washington. Her one woman performances cater to deaf and hearing audiences alike by presenting an enlightening and often humorous window into the experiences of deaf persons living amongst the hearing.

Early Life
Trix Bruce was declared profoundly deaf a mere six months after her birth in Florida. Her family relocated soon after, to the Northern Virginia town of Fairfax, where she began her formal education. Growing up in Fairfax, Trix learned to navigate the Deaf and Hearing worlds by attending an oral school while simultaneously taking deaf and mainstreaming classes.

Trix's performance career began on-stage in 1980 during her freshman year at Woodson High School. She was approached by the drama instructor to play the title character in the school's performance of Helen Keller. The experience proved to be so enjoyable that Trix continued performing for the remainder of high school and through seven years of college where she studied ASL Linguistics and performance.

Performance
Trix continued to perform on-stage after finishing school. She balanced her performance schedule with a full-time work schedule, combining the two aspects of her life whenever possible. After acting in a number of established theatrical productions, Trix began to write and produce more and more of her own productions. These productions began to take on many of the characteristics that came to define the performance style she is known for today--humorous and educational mix of poetry, movement and storytelling, performed by a single energetic actress.

Despite her successes, Trix openly acknowledges the difficulties facing deaf actors and actresses while simultaneously embracing her own qualities as a deaf performer. Opportunities are few, even for experienced performers, unless a production explicitely calls for a deaf actor. "I am just proud to be who I am. I made the right decisions and have followed my heart I am proud to be known a "deaf" actor." This sense of pride, coupled with her advocacy of ASL performance has made her a role model in the eyes of many deaf people. "My goal is for the audience is to show that a Deaf Role Model can do it. There were few deaf actresses and actors, it is time to see more new faces to come!"

ASL Instruction and Interpretation
After completing college, Trix went to work as an American Sign Language interpreter. In the following years, her love of performance and her work as an interpreter became more and more intertwined. Today, Trix is a highly sought after ASL instructor and presenter. She runs the ASL performance and education website, www.trixbruce.com, and holds status as an approved sponsor for the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf Maintenance Program.

Principal Performances

 * The Hearing World Around Me


 * Tales of a Mad, Mad, Mad ASL World


 * A Handmade Treasury of Deaf Folktales


 * A Story Worth A Thousand Signs


 * A Night of Improv with Trix: Whose ASL is it?


 * Trix's ASL Idol!


 * Adventuring in ASL: Trix's Travels

=See Also
=
 * []
 * []
 * []
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Registry_of_Interpreters_for_the_Deaf
 * []
 * []
 * []
 * []
 * []