Phyllis Frelich

1
Phyllis Frelich

• By Bryn Gelaro

2
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

3
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 werent many theater classes
  available
• Later received an Honorary Doctors of fine arts
  degree.

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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.

5
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 Phylliss 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

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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.

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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

8
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

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Awards Received

• North Dakota Rough Rider Award
• Ovation Award
• Gallaudet Universitys 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