In Milan in 1880, the writing was on the wall for sign language. At The Second International Congress on the Education of the Deaf, the delegation was stacked with proponents of ‘Oralism’, teachers focused on lipreading and articulation and opposed to the use of sign language. In this biased environment, a brave few railed against the foregone conclusion of the conference, arguing to save a language at risk of erasure.

In 2051, the full recommendations of the Disability Royal Commission from the Australian government are due to be implemented. To the outrage of many in the Deaf community, the report advocates for the complete closure of special schools, essential places where Auslan thrives and survives.

THE MILAN CONFERENCE is a new theatre work made collaboratively between re:group performance collective and DEA[f] Collective. Performed entirely in Auslan, it uses a mix of interpreting, voicing, creative captioning, visual vernacular and video design to discover a unique theatrical language. In THE MILAN CONFERENCE, we tell the story of the closure of a Deaf program and the children, teachers and parents fighting for what’s next. By reflecting on the original Milan conference and creating a contemporary parallel—our group of Deaf and hearing artists reckon with what education looks like when people won’t listen. 

Development of THE MILAN CONFERENCE is supported by Creative Australia, Create NSW, City of Sydney, Griffin Theatre Company and The Discipline of Performance Studies at University of Sydney. 

To premiere in 2028.

Images by Lucy Parakhina.