Brandon Kazen-Maddox & Up Until Now Collective
Brandon Kazen-Maddox is an ASL Artist, actor, choreographer, director, acrobat, educator and public speaker. Brandon is a Grandchild of Deaf Adults (GODA) and a third-generation native signer of American Sign Language (ASL). Brandon was a 2024 Artist-in-Residence for WNET/ALL ARTS and their half-hour special SOUL(SIGNS): Making Music Visible premiered on April 15, 2025 and is currently available to stream online. Brandon appeared as a featured storyteller on the 100th episode of PBS’ Stories From The Stage. Speaking engagements include A Day of Unreasonable Conversation at the Getty Museum in LA. Brandon’s work has been profiled in The New York Times and Dance Magazine, on CNN, ABC World News, PBS Newshour’s Brief But Spectacular, and ABC/Disney’s Storytellers Spotlight series.
Recipient: New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) Grant and a 2022 Creative Capital Award for the ASL dance theatre reimagining of Joseph Moncure March’s 1928 jazz age narrative poem, The Wild Party, and a 2023 Mertz-Gilmore Foundation Grant for (FREEDOM), a performance piece based on their life story that combines ASL, dance and aerial arts.
Other honors: Gucci’s 2022 Chime-for-Change: Visions for a Feminist Future, Partners Global 2023 Art for Marginalized Communities Inclusivity Award, and the Miranda Family Foundation’s RISE Theater Directory (Circle of Advocates).
Performance credits include: The Gathering: A Collective Sonic Ring Shout (National Black Theater/The Apollo, Kennedy Center), Bill T. Jones’ Deep Blue Sea (Park Avenue Armory), we come to collect: a flirtation with capitalism (The Flea Theatre, off-Broadway), and the Clin d’Oeil Deaf Festival in Reims, France. TV credits include The Good Fight (CBS) and High Maintenance (HBO).
Co-founder: Up Until Now Collective. UUN projects include SOUL(SIGNS): An ASL Playlist, SOUL(SIGNS): OPERA, Global Citizen’s 2022 Pride Video Campaign, the Times Square Midnight Moment (Georgia).
Education: BA in Spanish language and literature, with an additional focus on French linguistics and translation (University of Washington); MFA in Dance and New Technology (New York University).
