“In a play AS ENTERTAINING AS IT IS INSIGHTFUL, [playwright Nina] Raine poses a world of questions: What does it mean to be deaf? How much is a person’s deafness tied to their identity and self-image? Does sign language oversimplify the English language, and can it adequately express nuance and ambiguity?”
“The nature of communication is skillfully played for laughs yet explored from a dramatic standpoint both in the play’s self-assured text and in the way Marya Mazor’s VIRTUOSO DIRECTION dazzlingly brings out the play’s key elements.”
“Whether depicting the noisily squabbling family or the hushed, elegant intimacy of Billy and Sylvia, Barbee, Easton, Fisher, Power, Goodrich and Coffee are outstanding.”
“Barbee excels in the play’s most demanding role, making Billy’s confrontation of his family’s shortcomings one of the Chance production’s more combustible scenes and one of the production’s highlights.”
“Easton’s Sylvia is elegantly articulate, whether acknowledging the limitations of sign language or detailing how the hearing-abled tend to patronize the deaf.”
“Fisher brings a marvelous physicality and red-faced excitability to the role of sardonic eldest child Daniel.”
“A dilettante, Power’s Ruth is an intellectual in contrasting with Fisher’s often infantile Dan.”
“Goodrich’s Christopher exists in a perpetual snit, his cutting, sneering sarcasm generating big laughs.”
“[Marina] Coffee shows mom Beth as nurturing of all, quietly ready to mollify each new family dust-up.”
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