Deaf playwrights and performers will be coming from all over the globe to take part in the 4th annual National & Worldwide Deaf Theatre Conference, June 25-28 in Cromwell, CT. Sponsored by the National Theatre of the Deaf, the conference will offer a special workshop with deaf Native American storytellers, lead by keynote speaker Melanie McKay-Cody, a Cherokee. Michelle Banks, artistic director of NY's Onyx Theatre Company (for deaf artists of color), will lead a workshop for deaf black performers.

According to spokesperson Laine Dyer (June 24), the Conference will also feature showcases of three new sign-language plays, staged at The Meeting House in Chester. Brian K. Jennings' A World of Whys happens June 25, Willy Conley & Eric Beatty's Falling On Hearing Eyes: A Performance Gallery of Sign/Anguish goes up June 26, and Steven Sachs' Sweet Nothings In My Deaf Ear gets showcased June 28.

For information on the Deaf Theatre Conference at the Holiday Inn in Cromwell CT call (860) 526-4971 (or (860) 526-4975 for tty). The full conference costs $200; tickets to the showcases are $5.

-- By David Lefkowitz