Founder and Artistic Director of 1s1 Theatre, Dawn Jani Birley is a St. Mary’s University graduate in London, UK, with an MA in Physical Theatre with Merit. Her Deaf-led company challenges conventional approaches to theatre by centring Deaf ways of communicating and creating. Through 1s1 Theatre, she develops new performance languages at the intersection of Deaf and hearing perspectives, creating bold, visually driven, multilingual, and multisensory works.
Birley’s upcoming production, To A Flame (a 1s1 production in collaboration with Nightwood Theatre at Toronto’s Nancy and Ed Jackman Performance Centre), is billed as “an explosive theatrical feast of image and language.” The production follows three confined women as they await the conclusion of their story in the ancestral home of the man they call Father. There are burning secrets, past aches refusing to be suppressed, and the very house itself vibrates with desire for revenge.
To A Flame features performers Dawn Jani Birley, Nickeshia Garrick, and Juliana Monk, accompanied by cellist Beth Silver. Josette Bushell-Mingo will direct the production.
I’m personally fascinated by this upcoming production because it blends American Sign Language and English with vibrant movement and live music into a multisensory performance for Deaf and hearing audiences. I’m also intrigued because, according to the press release, Governor General Award-winning playwright Erin Shields has written the rich, vivid text.
Birley took a few moments to answer questions via email about the upcoming To A Flame.
She explains how choreography, movement, and ASL mix with the uncontrolled physical responses of the bodies, masking a precise but almost invisible choreography underneath. Movement and choreography are similar because both come from movement and impulse; choreography often involves breaking or holding a beat, counting or making deliberate choices. Movement can be more instinctive – a physical response or respite from the body’s reaction to a stimulus.
Birley also clarifies:
“Sign language is not movement; it is a language. The performers allow the visual and physical qualities of ASL to interact with the choreography while respecting ASL as a complete language in its own right.”
Dawn writes it is surreal to say that she knew Erin before she became a household name. Birley’s specialty is artistry and translation. Combined with Shields’ rich and vivid writing, this is a match made in heaven. Birley compares this combination to opening presents on Christmas morning, as the playwright pushes the artist to think about how to make the words artistically equivalent for Deaf eyes. It requires finding an artistic equivalent – not simply translating the words.
Dawn also remains quite complimentary about Flame director (and choreographer) Josette Bushell-Mingo, who opened doors and changed her life:
“What [Josette] does is very much what I strive to do: constantly push yourself to excel, challenge the systems around you, and use the platform of the arts to create positive change.”
That combination of artistic excellence and social impact from Dawn, Erin, and Josette continues to influence the way Birley works today, creating something new for audiences, signers, and non-signers alike.
Work on the Flame script has been percolating since 2011. While Dawn writes that working together in two languages is never easy, as it requires everyone involved to be patient, kind, and open-minded, it has become a joy to watch her colleagues learn American Sign Language and communicate without interpreters. For Dawn, that is real relationships occurring.
She feels that now is the time to put Flame out there for audience response. In 2025, a workshop presentation gave an overwhelmingly positive response and made her realize that the themes of audism, racism, feminism and controversial women in this work are more urgent than ever.
Rehearsals for Flame have had their challenges, according to Dawn, and expectations are high. The rehearsal room is where the artists learn to communicate with one another, both visually and verbally. She calls the collaboration with Nightwood a historic step for both it and 1s1. While the former is learning to work within a Deaf-led space, the latter has been leading the development of a bilingual space using ASL and English.
She adds further:
“Watching this [rehearsal space] become bilingual, with hearing allies supporting that process, is a step forward towards an equitable future.”
Audism is something Deaf people experience every day, often without hearing people even recognizing it. It is a form of discrimination that everyone needs to recognize and challenge together, not something Deaf people should have to tackle alone. Birley hopes To A Flame can introduce what audism is and encourage audiences to include it in conversations about social justice, noting that the Deaf community is still missing from that conversation.
Additionally, she hopes that audiences leave thinking differently about audism, racism and feminism and about the systems and attitudes that shape how people are seen, heard and treated and to have the same freedom, opportunities and ability to live lives fully as anyone else.
There is already a lot of international interest in To A Flame. Dawn, the artist and the theatre companies involved remain quite excited about that. Several theatre curators and Artistic Directors from abroad are coming to Toronto to see the production. She also adds:
“ I would love to see ‘To A Flame’ tour across Canada as well. It is important to me that this work reaches audiences beyond Toronto and that Deaf and hearing audiences across the country have the opportunity to experience it.”
Dawn concluded her email by writing that 1s1 has more exciting projects on the horizon and is working to secure more funding so that the company can build a sustainable future and operate beyond a project-to-project model. She’s often invited to work with different theatre companies across Europe, so her own artistic journey continues. She’s currently on a dance tour with fellow Canadian Lukas Malkowski, working with choreographer Jefta Van Dinther on Mercury Rising.
Performance dates for To A Flame (co-produced by 1s1 Theatre and Nightwood Theatre, in association with Modern Times and Why Not Theatre) run September 22 – October 04, 2026 at the Nancy & Ed Jackman Performance Centre – Performance Hall (877 Yonge St.)
For further information about To A Flame and/or to purchase tickets online, visit: To A Flame – Nightwood Theatre
