Penny Forward Podcast S2022E9 Where No Blind Actor Has Gone Before PT II

Penny Forward

This week’s guest is Star Trek’s first blind actor, Bruce Horak. Bruce is originally from Calgary, Alberta where he trained in theatre and Improvisation. Horak lost over 90% of his eyesight to Retinoblastoma, a childhood cancer. He has worked for over 25 years as an actor, writer, musician, composer, and painter, often creating work which addresses vision-loss, perspective, and perseverance. His one-person shows have taken him all over the world. "This is CANCER" premiered in 2006 at the Summerworks festival in Toronto, and went on to be performed over 1000 times earning awards from coast to coast. "Assassinating Thomson" premiered in 2013 and has been produced nearly 800 times. The National Arts Centre, Common Boots Theatre, The Blyth Festival, and Manitoba Theatre Centre are just a few of the spaces to present his work. He can be seen in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds for Paramount Plus as the blind alien engineer, Hemmer. When not creating new works and performing onstage, Bruce devotes his time to painting. More can be seen at http://www.brucehorak.com/ A full text transcript of this episode can be found at https://pennyforward.com/penny-forward-transcript-s2022e9-where-no-blind-actor-has-gone-before-pt-ii/ The Penny Forward podcast is about blind people building bright futures one penny at a time. Listen by asking your smart speaker to play the podcast, “Penny Forward”, searching for “Penny Forward” using your favorite podcast app, or by visiting pennyforward.com/podcast.