By Don X. Nguyen
Directed by Marya Mazor
Reading
NEUHAUS THEATRE
Don is a good son. He learns American Sign Language when his father, Dau, starts to lose his hearing. He moves back home to Nebraska to care for him, only to find the communication gap between them wider than ever. Dau has been learning Vietnamese Sign Language -- not ASL. And Don doesn’t even speak Vietnamese! Luckily, a surprise Thanksgiving guest, bearing Dau’s beloved honey ham, may be just the bridge they need. But the closer Don gets to signing with his father, the further he seems from understanding him. After all, learning a language means little if you're not willing to speak from the heart. With Dau’s hearing fading fast, can father and son find a way to communicate? From the author of The Supreme Leader (Alley All New Festival 2019), The World is Not Silent is a multilingual play that explores how language simultaneously divides and unites us.
The World Is Not Silent contains mild Language and a harrowing account of a family's evacuation during the fall of Saigon. To learn more about the content of this show, please click here for our content advisory page.
Before you attend the performance, the program provides cast bios, sponsor backgrounds, and further reading. Read.
