Casting Call for Deaf Granny

Project Title: Deaf Granny's Kitchen

Project Type:  Interactive Performance Art / Immersive Theater

Location: Black Rock City, Nevada (Burning Man)

Performance Dates: August 24 - September 2, 2025

Roles Available: Deaf Granny

(Multiple performers rotate in this role throughout the week.)

About the Project:

Deaf Granny’s Kitchen is an immersive performance art project created by Deaf Granny Arts and based at a theme camp of the same name at Burning Man. Founded in 2019, the project is an ongoing gift to both the Deaf and hearing communities—using visual storytelling, sign language, humor, and heart to foster connection, cultural awareness, and playful learning.

The centerpiece of the project is a lovingly recreated 1950s kitchen set where Deaf Granny—a larger-than-life character inspired by everyone’s warm but no-nonsense grandma—hosts and interacts with visitors. Through semi-improvised scenes guided by structured themes, Deaf Granny teaches participants basic ASL, visual communication techniques, and cultural norms found in Deaf communities. Many visitors walk away from these encounters changed, having had their first meaningful interaction with a Deaf person.

The performance style is warm, exaggerated, theatrical, campy, and deeply rooted in the Deaf experience.

Role Description:

Deaf Granny is Deaf, expressive, and deeply interested in human connection. She is a composite of beloved grandmother tropes—whether Italian, Jewish, Mexican, or other—who lovingly bosses visitors around with gestures, affection, and sass. She offers snacks and shots, lectures people to button up their coats or wash their hands, and always sneaks in a lesson about ASL or Deaf culture. She’s a force of nature who uses humor, sarcasm, kindness, and charisma to spark curiosity and open minds.

The main thrust of encounters with Deaf Granny is that people will come away having learned something. And we have carefully crafted the themes and parameters for encounters which Deaf Granny uses in a semi-improvisational way to imbue visitors with lessons about Deaf people and culture, about sign language and about communicating visually. 

The character is female-presenting, but performers of any gender are able to participate.

Requirements:

• Deaf
• Fluency in American Sign Language (ASL)
• Strong improvisational and interaction skills
• Comfort performing interactively for small, rotating audiences
• Ability to embody a playful, exaggerated character
• Passion for community-building, education, and performance art
• Participation in 4–5 scheduled appearances (2 hours each) over the course of the week
• Participation in Zoom-based prep/rehearsals pre-event
• Presence for the full event week, camping with Deaf Granny’s Kitchen
• Previous experience as a Burning Man participant is a plus

Important Notes:

This is not a traditional acting gig—this is Burning Man. You will be living and performing in a remote desert environment as part of a supportive and welcoming theme camp. The experience is immersive, collaborative, and radically self-reliant. There is no pay or commerce at Burning Man, but we provide infrastructure support and an unforgettable creative community.

You’ll have plenty of free time outside of your scheduled appearances to explore, rest, or participate in other activities. 

Burning Man is a temporary experimental city built in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert annually. Participants build hundreds of theme camps, gifting all types of experiences, creating new bonds, sharing resources, then tear it all down, leaving no trace. It is a decommodified zone; there is no advertising, no commerce & no currency.  See www.burningman.org for more information.

To Apply:

Please email  deafgrannyskitchen@gmail.com with:

-  a brief introduction

-  your background related to the performance, education or Deaf Culture

-  why you are interested in portraying Deaf Granny  

Applications accepted on a rolling basis until all spots are filled.

Join Us

We are excited to bring Deaf Granny's Kitchen back to Burning Man and and are looking for bold, expressive, Deaf performers to help bring this beloved character to life for thousands of curious and open-hearted burners. If you’ve got the spirit, the flair, and the ASL chops—we’d love to hear from you.

Visit our website at www.deafgrannyskitchen.org to learn more.