Jenny became deaf (with speech) at aged 7. Her mother said she could do whatever she wanted. Her careers officer said she could become a librarian! With Graeae, she works with some extraordinary deaf and disabled artists Jenny Sealey co-directed the London 2012 Paralympics Opening Ceremony alongside Bradley Hemmings (GDIF).

She has been Artistic Director and CEO of Graeae since 1997 and has pioneered a new theatrical language, coining the term “Aesthetics of Access”; the creative integration of sign language and audio description within performance.

Recent theatre credits for Graeae include: The Threepenny Opera (co-directed with Peter Rowe, co-produced with the New Wolsey Theatre Ipswich, Nottingham Playhouse, Birmingham Rep and West Yorkshire Playhouse); Limbless Knight (GDIF); Belonging (co-produced with Circo Crescer e Viver); Reasons To Be Cheerful (2010 co-produced with the New Wolsey Theatre Ipswich and Theatre Royal Stratford East and the 2012 national tour co-produced with the New Wolsey Ipswich); Blasted; Whiter than Snow (co-produced with Birmingham Rep); Peeling and Bent.

Additionally, Jenny has directed work, run workshops and masterclasses and given presentations internationally in Japan, India, Bangladesh and Brazil.

In 2009, Jenny was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Honours and became the Artistic Advisor for the Unlimited 2012 Festival before taking on the Paralympics Opening Ceremony.  Jenny has been awarded the Liberty Human Rights Arts Award, is an honorary Doctor of Drama at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and at Middlesex University and is a Fellow of the Central School of Speech and Drama and Rose Bruford College.

Biography published 2015