William Morgan

William “Bill” Morgan is a playwright and director known for deaf awareness theatre. For many years he was artistic manager of SignStage, the deaf awareness theatre program of the Cleveland Hearing & Speech Center's Community Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, running its day-to-day activities; by 2019 he had marked 12 years in the role. SignStage uses theatre techniques to teach audiences about Deaf culture, performing in English and American Sign Language at the same time with deaf and hearing actors, often in Cleveland schools. Morgan first joined as an actor and was its stage and tour manager before taking the lead.

A nationally and internationally recognized playwright, he specializes in adapting mainstream children's stories into Deaf theatre plays that highlight deaf characters and cultural conflicts. In October 2013 the Mayor of Cleveland honored him for creativity in promoting awareness of Deaf culture. Three times he directed the winning entry in Weathervane Community Theatre's 8x10 national ten-minute play competition, and he has worked with The Center for Arts-Inspired Learning, the Cleveland Theatre Collective and the Cuyahoga Arts Education Consortium.