Rita Scranton

Rita Scranton grew up in The Village, Oklahoma, a small city within the boundaries of Oklahoma City. When she was about 6 years old, she had the Mumps, a childhood disease that possibly caused her progressive bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. She is now profoundly Deaf. She taught herself to read lips when she still had some usable hearing and her parents were diligent in correcting her speech. Her father was a mechanic, locksmith, machinist, and handyman and she enjoyed helping him around the house. She spent a great deal of time either reading or playing outside (she was a self-proclaimed "tomboy"), and especially enjoyed playing softball. She even played a year of varsity softball at The University of Oklahoma. She was graduated with a BBA in Marketing and helped at the family antiques store and Military Surplus Mail Order business. She later opened a Military Surplus retail store before learning sign language and returning to school for a Master degree (MEd) in Community Counseling. Around that time, she developed an interest in theatre arts and joined a local Deaf group, "Oklahoma Sign Theatre, Unlimited" (OSTU). She also started studying clown and mime and has taken great pleasure in performing as "April Fool!" for many years. After taking several classes in on-camera acting while working as a software tester in San Francisco, she developed a passion for film acting. She has been a "Jack-of-all-trades" for much of her life and film gives her the opportunity, as well as the challenge of "becoming" a wide variety of different characters.