Tribes, Segal Centre’s “Brilliant, entertaining and educational theatre production”, illustrates humanity’s need to understand and be understood! This exciting and heart warming romantic, sometimes humorous, drama is about Billy, who is deaf, and what happens when he finally learns from his girlfriend the secret to effective communication through American Sign Language (ASL).
He sat at a table with an empty chair
With knowledge and beauty, she came to sit down
Then they felt the wonderful chemistry
Finally he was not alone in silent town
He was born deaf and didn’t know what he was missing.
She was losing her hearing gradually as time went by
He never knew how well he could communicate until he met her
Because she opened his mind up through the lovely world of sign
I never knew that signing poetry could be so beautiful
Tribes shows that it’s another great language to say
How I miss you can mean I love you
After having cast his eccentric family away.
And as graceful as the words roll off a tongue
Expressing ideas, passion and play
So can they from a skillful hand gesture … and maybe more ?
Beautifully, fluidly expressive like a tango or a ballet
He filled in the missing pieces and he grew stronger
While she began to lose more hearing every day
As her circle narrowed down to mostly ASL communicators
Her contentment was withering away
He never had good hearing
His brother heard voices that weren’t there
A sister whose singing ambitions were challenged
Misguided parents and family strangely show how they care
A frustrated intelligent family
Full of interesting drama and wit
This story could have been about mental health and the brother
Or any one of a mortal’s many challenges to be healthy and fit
Once Billy let go of his judgment of what was
About interpersonal relationships and of push and shove
And was able to express his genuine feelings in a cultured fashion
Tribes shows in the end what can help us triumph in life sometimes is love
His lessons learned could be transposed to many other challenges in life
Many of us feel alone with our cross to bear, we sometimes assume
Then we might discover, like Billy, we can manage them in a different way
I’d suggest you book your tickets and see Tribes soon
Ends December 20, 2015
Ticket Info: Segal Centre Box Office 514.739.7944
