ACT is proud to announce that they will begin their 2017 season using the Figaro MobiTxt® Closed Captioning System for audience members who are Deaf/ Hard of Hearing (HH). Starting with Tribes, all Mainstage productions at ACT will include multiple closed captioned performances. 

ACT is thrilled to announce that the funding from the Office of Arts & Culture will go to the permanent installation of the Figaro MobiTxt® Closed Captioning System for our Deaf/ Hard of Hearing audience members. The Figaro MobiTxt® Closed Captioning System is a personal 4”x 6” tablet that may be reserved by any Deaf/ HH patron wishing to use Closed Captioning by calling or emailing the Ticket Office with the performance date/ time you are attending. A short tutorial of the technology can be seen here. This system will be made available for all of ACT’s Mainstage productions beginning with Tribes.

Tribes runs March 3-26 in ACT’s Allen Theatre and is the powerful family drama by British playwright Nina Raine. Directed by ACT’s Artistic Director, John Langs, Tribes is the story of Billy, a young man who lives with an intellectual, chaotic, and sharp-tongued family. Arguments and insults regularly fly around the dinner table, all while Billy silently watches the scene unfold—he has been deaf since birth. He has managed to adapt to his family's unconventional ways, but they've never really returned the favor. His world is turned upside down when he meets Sylvia, a young woman on the cusp of deafness herself. A massive hit in London and New York, and winner of the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play, Tribes is the hysterical and touching coming-of-age story about the struggle for self-identity and what it truly means to be understood. 

Photo Credit: Chris Bennion

 Director John Langs describes the play with a question, “How can we begin to cross the bridge from one world to another when the chasm between is as profound and elemental as living in a world of sound and one of silence?” He continues, “Tribes is an exquisite and moving comedy, a beautiful play that uses the humorous microcosm of the family to focus on the importance of reaching toward one another through our differences.”

Tribes will feature the talent of Joshua Castille in the role of Billy. Making his ACT debut, Castille has previously been seen in Deaf West’s production of Spring Awakening on Broadway and ABC Family’s Switched at Birth. Anne Allgood will play Billy’s mother, Beth. The full cast will be announced in mid-January. In addition to director John Langs, the creative team includes Shawn Ketchum Johnson (Scenic Designer), Rose Pederson (Costume Designer), Andrew Smith (Lighting Designer), Brendan Patrick Hogan (Sound Designer), and Ryan Schlecht (ASL Sign Master).

Photo Credit: Cati Thelen

More information and ticket on Tribes click here.