Tribes

by Nina Raine

Tribes is a family play about the limitations of communication and the desire to belong.

Production took place November 2019 as part of the University of Arkansas MFA Directing first-year Projects at Nadine Baum Studios in Fayetteville, AR. The play was divided into two creative teams for each act.

Act I was directed by Lacy Post, featuring Taylor Hobby, Anna Knight, Alex Nilsson, Aubrey Pohlman, Tristan Sutterfield, and Skylar Ward, stage managed by Jasmine Willis, costumes by Valerie Lane, lighting by Alliance Atkins, set design by Jamie Spillars, sound design by Lauren Ferebee, original music composition and production by Matt Magerkurth, makeup by Chyna Mayer, dramaturgy by Sarah Loucks, and dialect coaching by Mavourneen Dwyer.

ASL consulting was provided by Priscilla Scanlan and NeCol Whitehead of SOURCES for Community Independent Living Services, located in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

ASL Interpreters provided on 11/16 and 11/23 by SLIN (Sign Language Interpreters of Northwest Arkansas).

A note from the director and dramaturg on the production:

Tribes is a play about Billy, who is deaf, Sylvia, who is going deaf, and Billy’s family, who are all hearing.

Because the actor playing Billy is not deaf, the choice to give Billy a microphone was made in an attempt to make disability visible.

You may find the microphone distracting or clumsy. That is okay. Because the actor is hearing, and therefore does not have to struggle with deafness, the cumbersome nature of the microphone gives the performer something tangible to struggle with, and allows for a visual and physical representation of disability.

The microphone makes the person who is deaf have the loudest voice in the room, yet his family still does not hear him.