Phyllis Frelich By Bryn Gelaro

Early Childhood Phyllis was born February 9th 1944 in Devils Lake North Dakota. Born deaf to deaf parents. She is the oldest of nine siblings, all of whom are deaf. Her entire family used Sign Language to communicate. She attended North Dakota School For The Deaf which used a total communication method of teaching (sign, speech, lip-reading etc.) Graduated From NDSD in 1962

Gallaudet University All of her life she dreamed of becoming an actress In 1962 she went to Gallaudet to study theater At the time, there weren’t many theater classes available Later received an Honorary Doctors of fine arts degree.

After Gallaudet After graduating from Gallaudet, Phyllis continued acting She made her debut in 1967 on NBC “Theater for the deaf,” a nationwide television show. In the early 1970s, she became one of the founding members of the Nation Theater of the Deaf (NTD) and traveled with the theater company all over the US and the world. She considers this one of her proudest accomplishments. One of the first plays she preformed on Broadway was “Songs From Milk Wood.” She was beginning to make a name for herself, but her big break on Broadway would not come for almost ten years.

Children of a Lesser God On March 30, 1980 Children of A Lesser God opened on Broadway, with Phyllis playing the lead role of Sarah Written by playwright Mark Medoff and inspired by Phyllis’s life. She was the first deaf person he had ever met. They worked closely together on the play which was received rave reviews In 1980 Phyllis won a Tony for her role in COLG, making her the first deaf winner of the Tony award Was eventually made in a movie in 1986 starring Marlee Matlin

Other Film/ TV Appearances After working on Broadway for a few years, Phyllis began to take parts mostly on TV shows. She has been on shows like ER and LA Law, playing different deaf characters. Also played the role of the mother in “Love is Never Silent,” (for which she was nominated for an Emmy) and in the recent film “Sweet Nothing In My Ear” along with Marlee Matlin. She has occasionally done plays with deaf theater like the musical “Big River.”

Other Work Has also taught acting workshops at various universities and colleges around the U.S. Occasionally she lectures and gives address to various schools and civic events Being a vocal part for the deaf community is very important to her. Besides acting, Phyllis has been active in instructing both hearing and deaf students She had pioneered and taught many acting workshops through NTD

Personal Life Phyllis Frelich is currently 62 years old and lives with her husband, Robert Steinberg Meet Robert when she was working at NTD, he was the head technical director She has two sons Continues in acting, most recently “Sweet Nothing In My Ear”

Awards Received North Dakota Rough Rider Award Ovation Award Gallaudet University’s Humanitarian award Honorary Gallaudet fine arts degree Tony for Best Actress in a play/musical 1980 Also first deaf member on The Screen Actors Guild