Gilbert C. Eastman

Gilbert Eastman (September 12, 1934 – December 2, 2006) was an American educator, actor, playwright, author, and television host. He acted in American Sign Language (ASL) plays and wrote many of them. Eastman taught and performed at the National Theatre of the Deaf (NTD), while writing and performing in many of their plays. In 1993, he won an Emmy Award for co-hosting the show Deaf Mosaic.

Personal life Gilbert Eastman was born in Middletown, Connecticut, on September 12, 1934. Eastman attended the American School for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut. After graduating from there in 1952, he attended Gallaudet University, receiving a bachelor's degree in art in 1957. After Eastman graduated from Gallaudet University, he married a deaf actress named June Russi. He graduated from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., with a master's degree in drama, with him being the first deaf person to receive that degree. In 1967, 1968, and 1971, Eastman studied during the summer with the National Theatre of the Deaf (NTD). He received an honorary doctorate in 2002 from Gallaudet University. Eastman died from cancer on December 2, 2006.

Career Teaching and media Eastman was invited by David Hays to instruct a non-verbal communication class at the NTD during the summer. Due to Hays not assigning an interpreter, Eastman created Visual Gestural Communication (VGC). He taught in Gallaudet's College Drama Department from 1957 to 1969 and was its chairman since 1963. In 1995, he performed for deaf and hearing children at the Rochester Senior Center in Rochester, New York, with an interpreter.