the collective

Black and white photo. Connor is a young white man with a neatly trimmed beard and short-buzzed head. He wears black rimmed glasses and gazes thoughtfully at the camera. One hand is partly curled up against the side of his chin.

Connor Yuzwenko-Martin

FOUNDER and ARTISTIC DIRECTOR | Amiskwacîwâskahikan

Connor is the founder and artistic director of The Invisible Practice, a Deaf arts collective based in amiskwacîwâskahikan. He is a producer, performer, and playwright. His first two major original productions, After Faust and CARBON MOVEMENTS, both premiered in Edmonton in 2023 after several years of development, and a third show is in development.

Connor has nurtured a lifelong passion for theatre and accessibility, beginning in grade school with simple skits and continuing into his young adulthood with his first professional engagement as a rookie improvisor at Rapidfire Theatre. To date, he has worked with organizations including Edmonton Fringe, Intrepid Theatre/Victoria Fringe, Theatre SKAM, SOUND OFF Deaf Theatre Festival, Nextfest, RISER Edmonton, Tiny Bear Jaws, Good Women Dance, Outside the March, Quickdraw Animation Society, and Sync Canada.

Connor is a certified Access Activator through Tangled Art+Disability’s training program. While he also happens to hold degrees and diplomas from both University of Alberta and MacEwan University, these institutions have demonstrated complicity and aggression in colonial and genocidal projects. He no longer claims identity with these institutions until there is sufficient systemic change toward collective liberation.

Crystal is an Indigenous woman with shoulder-length hair, thin digital lines on her face, and long earrings.

CRYSTAL ᐋᐧᐸᓇᒐᐦᑯᐢ WOLFE

COLLECTIVE ARTIST | Neyaskweyaw Band, Maskwacis

ᐋᐧᐸᓇᒐᐦᑯᐢ (Crystal Wolfe) is an Indigenous Deaf artist, interpreter, educator, and advocate. She was involved in the advocacy effort for Bill C-91 (An Act Respecting Indigenous Languages), which was led by the B.C. Hummingbird Society of the Deaf and which received royal assent in 2019. She has long defended the rights of the Deaf Indigenous community so that they can access traditional ceremony, participate in cultural duties, and create safer spaces in the wider community.

Crystal aims to spotlight Indigenous Deaf and their accomplishments across the country, help address and resolve ongoing oppressions within our communities, and elevate them as a source of pride for themselves and everyone around them. She records stories and leads ceremonies at various Deaf artistic events, including the annual SOUND OFF Deaf Theatre Festival. She has also performed as a Deaf interpreter in several productions, such as all these things collide inside of me (Good Women Dance/Wild Mint Arts).

Crystal is part of the Nehiyaw and Niitsitapi-Blackfoot Confederacy. She lives and works on Treaty 6 land and is also a member of Neyaskweyaw (Ermineskin) Band of Maskwacis. She is fluent in Plain Indian Sign Language, Nehiyawi ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐃᐧ, and loves writing in Cree, travelling, and spending time with her nôsisimak.

Black and white photo. Jan is a young white man with shoulder-length curly hair and a short-trimmed beard. He wears rectangular glasses and has a friendly smile.

JAN MCCARTHY

COLLECTIVE ARTIST | Amiskwacîwâskahikan

Jan McCarthy (he/him) is a Deaf Queer man residing in amiskwacîwâskahikan in the city currently known as Edmonton. He is a screenwriter, ASL coach/instructor, and actor. He has been involved with several productions, including 9 Parts of Desire (The Maggie Tree), Children of a Lesser God (Walterdale Playhouse) and After Faust (The Invisible Practice). He was a hairstylist and makeup artist and has always veered close to the stage but never quite found his niche. Now that Deaf arts in Canada is growing and becoming increasingly more sustainable, he is excited to support and nurture his creative peers along with the up and coming generations of Deaf artists.

At this time, Jan’s greatest creative curiosity asks how writing differs between the stage and the screen and how the lessons of one can inform the other through the shared mission of Deaf-centric storytelling.

Black and white photo. Kayla is a young white woman with prominent freckles, round glasses, and pale blonde shoulder-length hair. She leans slightly toward the camera with a playful smile.

KAYLA BRADFORD-SINASAC

COLLECTIVE ARTIST | Amiskwacîwâskahikan

Kayla Bradford-Sinasac is a full time graphic artist with a side hustle making stained glass, often to fundraise for special causes. She has always had a creative mind and loves making her ideas a reality in various mediums, with a current focus on projection design for creative captions.

Kayla has several performing and directing roles under her belt, including The Vagina Monologues, The Tempest, and After Faust. She plans to continue performing on stage and welcomes opportunities to learn and hone her craft.

Kayla as Peia in After Faust, lit in blue with fog.