Silent Salzburg

About the Book

Silent Salzburg is a powerful two-act drama that tells the story of an Austrian Christian family that goes into hiding in 1940 to protect their Deaf teenage son from sterilization or worse by the Nazis. It is not a true story, but is based upon historical events and circumstances.

Playwright Richard Medugno is the father of a Deaf daughter and a hearing son. He wrote Silent Salzburg for Deaf and hearing actors to be performed for both Deaf and hearing audiences. The play received its first public performances at the California School for the Deaf – Fremont’s Little Theatre in the fall of 2006. Audience responses and reviews from Deaf and hearing individuals were overwhelmingly positive and appreciative.

“Richard Medugno’s genius is in using the parallel between the Holocaust victims and the struggle of the Deaf culture to make the world understand that each of us is perfect as we are. ‘Stop trying to make us somebody else’s perfect and see the beauty in us just as we are. We all have value, and we are all unique.’ There is a parallel message and he has merged themes brilliantly in this story by depicting a family with a Deaf son fleeing a small city in Austria to avoid a program for sterilizing all Deaf citizens so they cannot have children. This then creates the situation where the whole family becomes silent while in hiding in Salzburg and the opportunities for learning sign language emerge.

The play sheds a bright light on the importance of communication between father and son, mother and daughter, and sister and brother; the importance of the family bond, overcoming the things that divide us, and ultimately, the importance of understanding and being understood.”

                                                Lori Steed

                                                Past President of IMPACT

                                                www.deafkids.org

About the Author

Richard Medugno, a graduate of the University of California, Irvine’s School of Fine Arts, is a playwright and freelance writer who lives in Fremont, California.  He has authored a number of works that have been produced on stage and published, including Bigger Dreams - a two-act play about Deaf Canadian politician Gary Malkowski and Deaf Daughter, Hearing Father – a memoir printed by Gallaudet University Press.