Bruce Hlibok

Obituary in the New York Times

Bruce Hlibok, 34, A Broadway Actor And a Playwright

Bruce Hlibok, a deaf actor who played on Broadway, died on June 23 at his home in Jersey City. He was 34.

He died of pneumonia, his family said.

Mr. Hlibok (pronounced LEE-bock), who grew up in Jamaica, Queens, and graduated from the Horace Mann School in Riverdale, the Bronx, received a bachelor’s degree in play writing from New York University in 1985. He wrote several plays that ran Off Broadway, including “Going Home” in 1980, “Woman Talk” in 1984 and “The Deaf Mute Howls” in 1988.

But Mr. Hlibok first gained notice in 1978 when he portrayed one of the children from broken homes in the Joseph Papp production of the Elizabeth Swados play “Runaways.” After an Off Broadway run, the musical went to the Plymouth Theater on Broadway. In a review in The New York Times, Richard Eder wrote, “Mr. Hlibok’s mute gestures remain one of the haunting visual underpinnings to many of the songs.”

Mr. Hlibok made several appearances on television, including a role as a student in the series “The Equalizer,” and as a guest performer on the 1978 Tony Awards ceremony. He also wrote a book, “Silent Dancer” (Simon & Schuster, 1981), about how his sister, who is also deaf, learned ballet with the Joffrey Ballet School.

He is survived by his parents, Peggy and Albert, of Flushing, Queens; his companion, William Fry of Jersey City; two brothers, Stephen, of Columbia, Md., and Gregory, of Flushing, and a sister, Nancy Amann of Phoenix.A version of this article appears in print on July 2, 1995, Section 1, Page 32 of the National edition with the headline: Bruce Hlibok, 34, A Broadway Actor And a Playwright.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/02/obituaries/bruce-hlibok-34-a-broadway-actor-and-a-playwright.html (Submitted by Stephen Hlibok)

See also:

• The Bruce Hlibok Story by Jade Films: https://www.jadefilm.com/the-bruce-hlibok-story
• Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Hlibok
• Deaf Mosaic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkpMqlpuJIQ
• 1991 ASL Literature Conference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDhiUfcPkaY