Small Mouth Sounds by Bess Wohl

The play:

Set at a five-day silent retreat, four individuals and a couple attend looking for relief from the pain they are experiencing in their personal lives, emotionally and physically. It is a quietly moving, experimental and playful piece of theatre, where the characters barely speak save for the teacher who runs the space and compels them to make change in their lives. It is equal parts ridiculous and profound, cynical about the wellness industry and earnest about human connection.

Production:

I would intend to present a fairly faithful production of this play, allowing the performances to be the main focus of production and rehearsal. Whilst there is talking in the play from all its characters, there isn't much, and the physical and expressive qualities of the cast will be relied upon. The spoken language is always a transgression of the rules of the situation, and the audience are engaged in understanding that rule and spotting when, how and why it's broken.

Casting: 3m, 3f plus 1m voice who is never on stage and is likely pre-recorded.

Learning opportunities:
Physical storytelling, both comedic and emotive
Building a character from only a small amount of text - a greater focus on expressing through their body language and actions, but also using those to reverse-engineer a lived-in character

Building a comfort and embracing of silence in performance - allowing the unsaid to be heard by the audience, trusting fellow cast members to hold a moment and to tell a story through silence

Use of a number of different vocal registers of whispering, almost-speaking, vocalising without words

Accent work and ensemble work

Rights: Should be easy to obtain, I got them in principle once a few years ago

Useful links: Trailer for the original Ars Nova performance https://youtu.be/boDCbJ_-AFg

You can find a sample of the text (including detailed character descriptions) here: https://www.dramatists.com/previews/5257.pdf