"Another Kind of Silence" Speaks Loudly in Three Different Formats

 

Hope Anthony, Thomas DellaMonica, Amelia Hensley and Monique Holt as Chori Courtesy Photo

When I walk into the lobby of City Theatre, I usually find managing director, James McNeel, standing near the entrance affably greeting patrons as they file through the door. This past Sunday, September 29, was no different when McNeel and his approachable and smiling face put everyone at ease and in a relaxed, welcomed state.

          However, one floor up, the mood changes dramatically when the lights go up on L M Feldman’s world premiere play, “Another Kind of Silence.” You know something different, something out-of-the-ordinary is afoot when you see four actors dressed in costume designer, Damien E. Dominguez’ colorful chitons slowly, leisurely gliding across the stage, their eyes looking with curiosity out at the audience.

          Are they searching for something or someone? Are they intrigued by the audience members filing into the theater? Their intentions remain vague, their stares vacant and uncommunicative.

          Feldman sets her play in contemporary Athens, Greece, but the echoes of ancient Greece resound throughout the work starting with the inclusion in the cast of one chorus member for each of the four characters. There’s also the important thematic element of the old Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice that resonates throughout the play.

           One thing that makes this play unusual is that the spoken narrative is translated into sign language by Artistic Sign Language (ASL) director, Monique “MoMo” Holt, who plays double duty as one of the characters on stage in the role of Peter’s Chorus. To assist Holt, City Theater brought in Meg Dippold as assistant DASL.

          Further complicating and enhancing the narrative is the projected word-for-word text projected on stage. The effect is similar to the closed captions you get on foreign films or supertitles projected above the stage during an opera.

          During intermission, my theater companion explained that he was drawn to the projected text at the expense of viewing the action on stage. I was relieved to hear that he had the same experience as I did. This is one of the reasons why my assessment of the various actors is rather sketchy because my eye was drawn more to the projected text than the action on stage.

You might also find interesting that at least three of the actors were either deaf (Jules Dameron as Ana and Amelia Hensley as Evan’s Chorus) or hard of hearing (Kaia Fitzgerald as Chap). With all these various elements creating a unique scenario, director Kim Weild manages to keep the play moving forward at a smooth and easily digestible clip.

The narrative concerns two women, Evan (Catherine Growl), a writer, and Chap (Kaia Fitzgerald), an artist. Both meet at a time when they’re already involved in a relationship with someone else. But in a short span of time, they grow so entranced with one another, they quickly fall into a romantic and erotic relationship.

While little in the way of narrative takes place by the time intermission breaks the mood, an impression shared by the woman seated next to me, the various emotional textures and intellectual challenges that have taken place more than make up for the scant story line, which does grow much stronger in Act Two. Chap’s relationship with her culinary wizard of a partner, Ana, transforms and transitions but perhaps not as much as Evan’s bond with her lover, Peter (Anil Margsahayam), a successful classical music composer.

Anil Margsahayam as Peter, Monique Hot as Peter's Chorus, Hope Anthony as Ana's Chorus, Thomas Della Monica as Chap's Chorus and James Dameron as Ana Courtesy Photo.

Director Weild creates some impressive dynamic blocking that requires some effort on the audience’s part to keep up with. Something that helps sort things out a bit is the fact that each “chorus” or daemon wears a colored chiton that matches the color of the clothing worn by the character they are aligned with. Thomas Della Monica is color paired with Chap, for instance, and Hope Anthony is color matched with Ana.

Adding much to the aesthetic of the play are scenic designer, Chelseaa M. Warren’s abstract and fluid set complete with a moveable turntable that invigorates the stage and Stewart Blackwood’s impressive soundscape that includes a lengthy snippet of classical music of his own devise that shows the broad scope of his talent.

Thomas Della Monica, Kaia Fitzgerald as Chap, Jules Dameron as Ana and Hope Anthony as Ana's Chorus

“Another Kind of Silence” is a provocative, challenging and inimitable play, one that will certainly change your perceptions of what live theater is capable of.

If you go, you’ll save me the trouble of having to explain how the intricate love quadrangle of the drama plays out. And, if you’d like to share with me your thoughts on why the playwright chose the title she did, you can email me at owlscribe@yahoo.com.

“Another Kind of Silence” is at City Theatre Pittsburgh, 1300 Bingham Street on Pittsburgh’s South Side, now through October 12.

For tickets, phone 412-431-2489 or visit citytheatrecompany.org.