Medina Sumovic is an actress, dramaturge, teacher and consultant. As a deaf person, she is a respected leader within the deaf community known nationally for her contribution to the Deaf arts.


Acting
From 1996- 2005 Medina worked as a full time actor for the long- standing company, Australia Theatre of the Deaf (ATOD) and toured Australia several times performing in Theatre in Education shows and leading visual theatre workshops in hundreds of schools nationwide. She also featured in some ATOD main stage productions working with numerous deaf and hearing directors. Other acting work includes; PPP Theatre (1995), Freewheels Theatre (2000), award winning Sensory Theatre piece, ‘Source/Sauce’ (Melbourne Fringe 2005) by Round Angle Theatre and, ‘In the Dark’ (Art Of Difference Festival 2009). She is currently working for Polyglot Puppet Theatre as one of the artists in an extended residency at the Furlong Park School for the Deaf.

Dramaturgy and Choreography
Medina currently works on the Deaf Can Dance project run by Deaf Arts Network and Arts Access Victoria and has worked with this project since its inception in 2007. She informally set up workshops for deaf people in Melbourne to learn hip hop, and, then with further support from Deaf Arts Network, she continued to contribute as dramaturge working with Phunktional and the ensemble of deaf dancers leading up to the award winning performance, ‘Sound of Silence’ (Melbourne Fringe 2008). After this, she then worked with Deaf Can Dance next performance (Ausdance Awards 2009). She is continuing this relationship with Deaf Can Dance for the lead up performance to take place in October at the World Congress of Mental Health and Deafness.

Community Development
Medina works part time for the Victorian Council of Deaf People (VCOD) continually advocating, advising, developing and strengthening networks for the Deaf community in Victoria.

Consultant
Medina has consulted various projects, a highlight being, ‘International Deaf theatre conference’, an adjunct to the, World Federation of the Deaf Conference (Brisbane 1999). She has also been a consultant for Auslan interpreters and assisted in their prepared translations for, ‘Wicked’ (2009),  ‘Billy Elliot’ (2009) and ' The Phantom of the Opera'  (2008)