Board of directors

Shanna Sorrells (she/they) is Senior Manager of Access & Inclusion at Imagination Stage, a children's theatre company in Bethesda, MD. She is developing theatre education and production programming for Deaf and Hard-of-hearing children in the DMV region. She also currently serves as a member of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington's Disabilities Inclusion Committee. Most recently she was Director of Inclusion and Disability Programming at the Edlavitch DCJCC. Prior, she spent almost ten years teaching ASL and theatre in middle school, high school, and college classrooms, while working intermittently as a Teaching Artist for Imagination Stage and other theatres. 

Shanna began her journey in life with a bit of ASL, and then at age two, was introduced to Cued American English through the Montgomery County Public Schools system. She began learning ASL in earnest when she entered middle school. At age 15, she elected to get a CI, and now wears a hearing aid and a CI, though she often goes without wearing them, because sounds can be overwhelming. For her, silence is an oasis! 

Shanna has a master's degree in Theatre Education from the University of Northern Colorado as well as a B.A. in Education and Child Study from Smith College. In her spare time, she tutors in ASL on the side and is an actor (she will be onstage next at CCBC in "en la Quinta del Sordo (in the house of the deaf man)." She is also an orienteer (hopefully heading to Sweden for the Deaf Orienteering Championships in August 2023!) She's an avid outdoor enthusiast, proud cat parent, pretends she has a green thumb, and reads as much as she can.

Shanna envisions a world in which accessibility is the norm, built into our everyday lives, and is not a mere afterthought. Accessibility is for everyone.