In Trash, Jake (James Caverly, left) and Tim (Andrew Morrill) examine the trash that each is reluctant to take out in their New York apartment. The Deaf actors also co-wrote the play.
The engaging Trash embellishes a common New York story of two roommates in conflict by adding an important twist, as well as a variety of theatrical tricks, including audience participation. The Deaf creators and lead performers, James Caverly and Andrew Morrill, hold out occasional lifelines to a hearing audience via projections, a talking jukebox, and a character who isn’t Deaf, but just as often they speak in American Sign Language (ASL). Lest anyone balk at that, a good deal of the ASL portions are no more challenging than interpreting gestures in a silent film.
Tim has a secret relationship with his landlord Nicolas (Vishal Vaidya) in Trash. Photographs by Rebecca J. Michelson.
The story is simple. Two mismatched Deaf roommates, Caverly’s straight Jake and Morrill’s gay Tim, argue over who should take out the trash, each accusing the other of not carrying half the load. Jake is dressed for a date.
Jake: I’ve been taking out the trash for five months in a row. … I can’t do it. I have nice clothes on me! The smell’s gonna stick to me, then I’ll have to shower and change my clothes.
Tim, however, points out that he can’t leave the apartment because he has an ankle monitor. (Flashbacks explain the reason.) They then run combatively through the dollar values of each one’s chores, using markers on the large window of their apartment (designed by Suzu Sakai) to add them up. That failing, they rummage through the trash to assign each discarded item to a guilty party.
Tim and Jake follow the blog of Carly (Rebecca Spigelman), who makes a practice of dating only Deaf men.
That seems a risky proposition for Tim, who has a special sexual arrangement with the landlord Nicolas (Vishal Vaidya), who is not Deaf and is desperate to take a leak after having secretly spent the night. But Jake, too, has a non-Deaf counterpart, a social media influencer named Carly (Rebecca Spigelman), who only dates Deaf men because during sex, she tells Jake, “I scream. Loudly.”
Caverly and Morrill incorporate a variety of busy theatrical devices to hold one’s interest, and director Nathaniel P. Claridad keeps all the moving parts distinct. Flashbacks and flash-forwards are distinguished by Taylor Edelle Stuart’s projections on the surrounding walls. The metatheatrical melodrama incorporates audience participation indirectly, via spotlighting audience members, but also by direct address, frequently urging them to vote on issues (a painted cardboard ballot is in each program) such as “Is cereal healthy?”
Scenic designer Suzu Sakai provides a kitchen area where a teal plastic wastebasket sits, overflowing with stuff. In a corner is a Jukebox (Chris Ogren) that Jake has bought that plays music and translates ASL into voiced language for non-Deaf people. The playing can be overly broad, but much of the gesturing that accompanies the ASL between the roommates conveys the story in the style of a silent film, as does Nicolas’s attempts to sneak out of the apartment without Jake seeing him.
There’s a running joke about Jake being noisy, causing the downstairs tenant to bang the ceiling for quiet.
Tim: You gotta make more of an effort to be quiet.
Jake: How the fuck do I be quiet? I’m Deaf.
The writing is often nuanced: one nice touch is Carly’s attempt to sign “summer camp”: it comes off as “dry camp.” Other times nuance is tossed to the winds: when Jake describes a masturbation session, he repeats a single scripted reference to “pints” so often that it borders on bad taste.
Most effective may be openly agitprop elements regarding the difficulties of being Deaf: condescending or indifferent treatment by “hearies” or “audies.” It’s a sore point between the men; the disgusted Tim berates Jake for thinking that education will give him an advantage:
There are no “better opportunities” for Deaf people in this hearing world. I don’t know if you noticed the “bubble”? … Do you see how so many of us who left end up back in this same bubble? Teaching at the same Deaf school we graduated from, working at the same companies that other Deaf people work at … You know why we’re in this bubble? Because of hearing people.
Chris Ogren plays the Jukebox, which lights up when it’s operational.
The play edges toward accusation as the lights pick out audience members and the men recite the discomfort that Deaf people have when they are with hearing friends:
Jake: Hearing Anxiety.
Tim: Not Feeling Good Enough.
Jake: Dinner Table Syndrome.
Tim: Fear of Missing Information.
Jake: “Tell You Later.”
Tim: Deaf Paranoia.
Jake: Isolation.
Tim: Depression.
Ultimately, Trash is structurally a bit unwieldy, but it opens a portal for hearing people to better understand important issues about life for the Deaf, through time spent with endearing characters in a fresh and quirky way.
Out of the Box Theatrics’ production of Trash plays through March 28 at the Perelman Performing Arts Center (251 Fulton St.). Evening performances are at 7 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; Sunday matinees are at 1 p.m. March 21 and 2 p.m. March 28. For tickets and more information, visit pacnyc.org/whats-on/trash/.
Playwrights: James Caverly & Andrew Morrill
Director: Nathaniel P. Claridad
Scenic Design: Suzu Sakai
Costume Design: Nikolya Sereda
Lighting Design: Annie Wiegand
Sound Design: Howard Ho
Projections Design: Taylor Edelle Stuart
Director of Artistic Sign Language: Kailyn Aaron-Lozano
