Reviewed by Dr. Tiffany Knight Raymond, PhD
There are rare productions you know will resonate with you across time, and it’s a privilege to share that collective theatrical experience. City Theatre’s world premiere of LM Feldman’s Another Kind of Silence is nothing short of a masterpiece.
The playbill describes the show as bilingual, given its in English and American Sign Language (ASL). However, it would be better described as quadrilingual, given that the play also includes spoken Greek and Greek Sign Language (GSL), while perfectly obvious after the fact, the existence of other Sign Languages truly wasn’t something I’d ever considered as someone with limited exposure to the Deaf community, giving myself a mental facepalm eye roll at such an American ethnocentric blunder.
Quadrilingual sounds complicated by default. However, it’s a testament to Director Kim Weild and Monique “MoMo” Holt, as director of artistic sign language, that it’s absolutely effortless for the audience to follow. This power duo makes it smooth for the actors as well, a clear by-product of lock-step collaboration. The play ensures inclusivity by thoughtfully utilizing non-intrusive subtitles. They are there for reference but never distract.
Holt is Deaf and represents just one member of the Deaf community involved in this production. Among others, the production also includes Deaf and Hard of Hearing actors, and lighting designer Annie Wiegand is Deaf. This ensures the production is represented from a fuller circumference within the Deaf community instead of singular representation.
Chelsea M. Warren’s classical Greek scenic design elegantly blends amphitheater with ruins, providing a sun-bleached background for each scene. Fabric-like pillars provide elegant spaces for the subtitles. Topping these pillars is a connecting arch. One of the play’s most memorable and magnificent moments is courtesy of Wiegand. For a scene at the Odeon in Athens, Wiegand projects a musical staff onto the arch. When symphony music commences, the lines of the staff vibrate. They become sound waves that vibrate with the music, providing a visual representation of the music’s crescendos and decrescendos.
At its heart, Another Kind of Silence is about love and the evolution of relationships. Girl meets girl, but both are involved with others. Feldman doesn’t yield to oversimplification, doing justice to the murkiness we’ve all experienced in relationships, romantic and otherwise. What we need and value changes as time passes, and those needs may or may not align with your partner’s evolution.
The two women at the center are Chap (Kaia Fitzgerald) and Evan (Catherine Gowl). They meet when Evan is in Greece accompanying her husband, Peter (Anil Margsahayam), on a work trip. Or rather, they don’t so much meet, but Chap observes Evan writing in a park.
Chap immediately and uncannily sees into Evan and discerns her ability to “find the epic in small things.” Before even knowing her name, Chap mentally nicknames Evan “Eureka.” The translation of this ancient Greek word of “I have found it,” foreshadows what feels like a pre-destined connection. Their spark is immediate, and the play thoughtfully explores the spaces – and silences – between spark and fire. Fitzgerald and Gowl make passion palpable thanks to Weild’s masterfully deft direction. Weild heightens the small moments that compose this fledgling relationship.
Each of the four characters is paired with their own personal chorus member. Costume designer Damien E. Dominguez visually unites each pairing with color to ensure readability for all audience members. For example, Evan and her Chorus (Amelia Hensley) are always in shades of pink.
The Chorus is a visual representation of the subconscious. Chorus members are costumed in flowing gowns that highlight their ethereal quality. The chorus members interact with each other in ways their counterparts can’t and sometimes provide reaction shots, going so far as to physically shield their actors, providing an actual block to difficult news. The Chorus also represents the desires of the characters they represent, able to act out that which their counterparts are not yet ready for or about which they dream.
Chap’s partner is local cafe owner, Ana (Jules Dameron). Dameron is a deaf, trans actor who commands the stage. For both couples, Feldman counters the heights of new love with the realities of an unraveling relationship. Chap states it simply when she says to Ana, “Something’s missing.”
And yet, nothing is missing from this production. Don’t miss the transformative.
-TKR, Ph.D.
City Theatre’s production of Another Kind of Silence runs through October 12, 2025, at City Theatre, 1300 Bingham Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15203. Purchase tickets online here.
