Artists Rep Extends TRIBES Through 3/8

Artists Repertory will extend their production of Tribes, by Nina Raine, directed by Artists Rep's Artistic Director Dámaso Rodriguez. The five additional performances, including an added ASL interpreted performance, are due to the significant demand for additional performances of this exceptional play that has been sweeping the nation at luminary theatre companies like Steppenwolf, Barrow Street Theatre and La Jolla Playhouse after originating at London's Royal Court Theatre.

The Portland Premiere of this tense and compelling play features a stellar cast of Artists Rep Resident Artists and favorites alongside Hard of Hearing actor Stephen Drabicki, who has played the role of Billy three times before to critical acclaim.

In an interview for the production's playbill, Stephen said "The strength of the play lies in how it makes the audience feel ... the dramatic tension created by the tribal relationships, and the play's sharp, witty, irreverent, and at times, even poetic, dialogue."

"While the specific dramatic questions raised in Tribes involve one young man encountering Deaf Culture, the play explores so many universally valid, important and opposing viewpoints on family, belonging, otherness, language, communication, connection, culture, parenting, identity and responsibility," said Dámaso Rodriguez, Artists Rep's Artistic Director who is directing Tribes. "Ultimately, Tribes is not about a particular group, but rather how we all seek to belong to a community we can call our own, and in doing so, how we too often fail to listen."

Tribes is a scintillating contemporary drama centered around Billy, the only deaf member of his family, whose search for family acceptance sparks often funny, but fierce, tensions at home. He was raised inside an idiosyncratic and politically incorrect cocoon where his family did not allow him to learn sign language or be involved in the Deaf Community. It is not until he meets a young woman, Sylvia, who is on the brink of deafness, that he finally understands what it means to be understood. Grappling with the significance of language and the urge to belong, this Portland debut follows triumphant productions Off-Broadway, at London's Royal Court and Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre. 2012 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play.

Photo by Owen Carey