By Sharonn Eberson
You get but one first impression, and for me, in the case of the new work, Another Kind of Silence, it was the sound of ocean waves, or holding a conch shell to your ear. That memory of an audible greeting speaks volumes as to how different audience members will experience the seductive multilingual, multicultural, multimedia production now at City Theatre.
The season-opening play by L M Feldman contains standard plot points from relationship dramas, but the playwright has wrapped the will-they-or-won’t-theys in complexities rarely seen on stage, in a production that pushes the envelope of creativity, to achieve the goal of inclusivity.
of Another Kind of Silence at City Theatre. (Image: KJH Studios)
Another Kind of Silence features the written and spoken word, evocative choreography and sound design, and mostly American Sign Language, but Greek Sign Language as well.
Actors and characters are hearing, hearing impaired and profoundly deaf, and each communicates on multiple levels, literally and figuratively, amid a scenic design that implies a world where ancient ruins and contemporary technology coexist.
With a languorous pace, the play establishes two couples: the deaf restaurateur Ana (Jules Dameron) and Chap (Kaia Fitzgerald), a hearing-impaired visual artist who works at her partner’s Grecian hot spot; and a vacationing hearing couple, struggling writer Evan (Catherine Gowl) and her husband, successful composer/conductor Peter (Anil Margsahayam).
Chap and Evan, each feeling lost in the shadow of their mates, meet in the park. A connection is made, sparks fly.
For the audience, there becomes a question of whom to root for – when one character contemplating an affair says, “You crack me open,” the sensation of the heart overruling guilt and commitment is crystal clear. Even if no words were spoken or signed, the connection and desire between Chap and Evan was obvious. Their long-term partners are guiltless and forgiving; if anything, their successful careers have served to push their lovers in another direction.
Do they deserve the hurt that an affair will cause? Do two people finding love anew deserve to be kept apart?
The bigger question, rendered in large type on a central scrim, becomes, “Now what?”
I have witnessed this story, or elements of it, many times before. An Affair to Remember kept springing to mind. That didn’t make the desire emanating from Fitzgerald’s Chap and Gowl’s Evan any less sensual, or their decisions any less stressful to bear.
And still, there were more layers to their story.
What started with the sound of waves morphed into another lasting impression: the silent entry, one by one, of Monique “MoMo” Holt, Amelia Hensley, Hope Anthony and Thomas Dellamonica, each actor draped in brightly colored, Grecian garments. Each member of the quartet stopped to dramatically face the audience, before moving along. They came to represent individualized daemon spirits of mythology, and, to my mind, interacting much as the animal daemons do in the His Dark Material trilogy. These daemons flowed through the story in carefully choreographed motion, cajoling, explaining and expressing their own opinions, adding an otherworldly layer of storytelling.
The production is directed by Kim Weild, Chair of the John Wells Directing Program at Carnegie Mellon University, with an assist from Holt, who was commissioned as Director of Artistic Sign Language by City and its producing partners, through the support of the National New Play Network’s Venturous Theater Pipeline.
Another Kind of Silence, a rolling premiere, will continue to be developed by other companies, each in its own original production. It is the most expensive production in City’s history, said James McNeel and Clare Drobot, made possible through these partnerships and others.
The process included a longer-than-usual rehearsal period and scripts with virtual visualizations (see the onStage preview at https://onstagepittsburgh.com/2025/09/03/sign-of-inclusivity-another-kind-of-silence-at-city/ for details) to create a visually arresting production that serves both hearing and deaf audiences.
As in all modes of entertainment with captioning – whether it’s movie subtitles or opera surtitles – there can be distracted focus from the performance, which includes what is known as Visual-Gestural Communication. communication method. The spread scenic design by Chelsea Warren, with lighting by Annie Wiegand, mostly avoids that potential pitfall, with the projection of large-font captioning on centrally placed screens, integral to the design that is a cross between an amphitheater ruin and upscale hotel lobby.
The caption mostly mirrors what is being spoken or signed, but does not always agree exactly with the spoken word, not unlike ASL vs. English, but without any confusion of intent.
Kudos for weaving what may in the past have seemed like disparate elements into a cohesive whole that is as seductive as its romanticized setting, where the only ambiguity is intended, and breaking down barriers to a shared theatrical experience.
TICKETS AND DETAILS
City Theatre’s production of Another Kind of Silence runs through October 12, 2025, on the Mainstage at 1300 Bingham Street, South Side. The show has one intermission. Tickets: visit https://citytheatrecompany.org/production/100833/another-kind-of-silence or call 412-431-2489. The rolling premiere will continue with separate productions at Curious Theatre Company in Denver, Colorado, and Vortex Repertory Company in Austin, Texas.
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