American Players Theatre: Tribes

The cast of Tribes

American Players Theatre Presents TRIBES Review - The Bonds We Form And The Ones We’re Born With

TLDR: Unpacking a chaotic, noisy family, Tribes takes us through the lives of a son born deaf into a family of hearing who then meets someone who introduces him to the deaf community. Packing in many plot points and subtopics, we see the different dynamics of this family and within the deaf community itself.

Maggie Cramer, Casey Hoekstra, Joshua M. Castille, Lindsay Welliver, and Colleen Madden

You Accept Your Family, But Will Others?

Have you ever been afraid to bring your significant other home to your parents? You’ve been together a while and love them and want them to know this part of your life. So you decide to take the plunge and bring them around for dinner.

How about bringing them home when your family is the type of family that likes to recreationally argue? Which might not gel with everyone, but you know your significant other can hold her own. She’s smart and not afraid of a challenge.

How about when that “argument” turns into a statement directly attacking your personhood? Suddenly all bets are off the table and now you’re seeing your family in a different light. Can you stand by your family after this?

In Tribes, Billy (Joshua M. Castille) born deaf into a family of hearing finds a new perspective as he meets Sylvia (Lindsay Welliver), who has parents who are deaf and is losing her hearing herself. His world is opened up to a new community and what he may have been missing.

A Different Perspective

The production captures what it feels like to be deaf in a world of the hearing and vice versa. The feeling of how no one takes the time to explain a joke you may have missed. They don’t put in the extra time and effort to make you feel included. They expect you to be able to keep up at their pace.

We get a peek into a world people who are hearing might not know about and learn about the deaf community. And even within that community there’s different factions and a hierarchy all its own. People who are deaf. People who are hard of hearing. People who are losing their hearing. All different kinds of non-hearing situations that Sylvia tells us about. Welliver gives us a character that is strong when she needs to be, but is also dealing with her own internal conflict as she feels no one understands what she’s going through, not even within the deaf community.

Tribes also explores the reasoning behind why parents make decisions they think are the best for their children. What they do to make their children’s lives easier by being able to fit in. We understand this chaotic family and their opinions on why they wanted Billy to be able to “fit” within the world of the hearing. 

Joshua M. Castille and Lindsay Welliver

Unpacking Family Dynamics

Tribes packs in a lot of subtopics alongside its main theme of how we love and our communities we build. We see how this family interacts with each other and how noise and chaos is a central part of who they are.

We meet Jim DeVita as the patriarch of the household and understand how the dynamic within their family was created. Everyone is trying to live up to his standards and is in an unofficial competition they didn’t ask for. The rest of the family has gotten used to him by now, but from an outsider's perspective it might be intimidating as he’s stubborn and lacks other perspectives. DeVita’s performance makes you want to go up to him afterwards and say you were incredible in the show, I hated you so much!

Colleen Madden as Beth is cut from the same cloth as her husband, though in a different way. She can match her husband’s energy in an argument and wants the best for her children. She just shows it in a different way. We see her affection for her children as she she rests a hand on their shoulders or asks about each of them with the others, trying to understand what they’re going through.

Then comes the siblings. Ruth (Maggie Cramer), is the ever-doubting-herself middle child who finds herself playing the go between for her parents and siblings. She deals with her own internal crises about her talent and is the first to empathize with her brother. Casey Hoekstra is the foil to his brother who hears too much. There’s so much going on in his head that he needs more noise to drown them out. He tries to cover up his insecurities with crass humor and purposely getting under people’s skin, but the only person he talks to is Billy. 

And through Castille we see every part of his emotional journey - from the beginning moment when his perspective opens, to being in love, to not being limited anymore, to wrestling with his newfound desire to be a part of this community and how his past has shaped him. All of this is delivered in an emotional performance and we’re right alongside for the ride.

The After Party Thoughts

I’ll say it once and I’ll say it again, representation matters. Seeing a play that specifically is about being deaf is why I love theater. Tribes allows us a peek into that community and brings it to a stage to not only craft a compelling story around it, but to educate and bring more understanding to a wider audience.

While I do think the story felt a little clunky with how many plot points and messages the play is trying to get across, ultimately the main ones did come through. As all the chaos and noise around us fades away, what’s left is the feelings and connections we have with those that are close to us and understand us. It always gets me when actors put so much of their emotions into a role it carries through into the curtain call because it just shows how much of themselves the actors give. At the end of Tribes we see the emotions heighten and the portrayal feels real and raw as they leave it all on stage.

If you like shows that find that balance between education and entertainment and are looking to expand your worldview or if you’re a person who may be a part of this community and want to see yourself represented onstage, Tribes would be a good fit for you.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Colleen Madden, Joshua M. Castille, Casey Hoekstra, Maggie Cramer, and Jim DeVita

When

Now through September 27, 2025

Where

American Players Theatre

Touchstone Theatre

5950 Golf Course Road

Spring Green, WI 53588

Runtime: 2hrs 25 min, including intermission

Tickets

$69+

Tickets can be purchased through the box office by calling 608-588-7401 or through the American Players Theatre website

Photos

Michael Brosilow

CAST

Joshua M. Castille (Billy)  

Colleen Madden (Beth)  

Lindsay Welliver (Sylvia)  

Jim DeVita (Christopher)  

Casey Hoekstra (Daniel)  

Maggie Cramer (Ruth)

CREATIVE

John Langs (Director)  

Adrianne Moore (Voice & Text Coach)  

Jeannette Christensen (Costume Design)  

Jason Fassl (Lighting, Scenic & Projections Design)  

Josh Schmidt (Music Composition & Sound Design)  

Jeb Burris (Intimacy, Movement & Fight Director)  

Paul Haesemeyer (Assistant Costume Design)  

Christian Payne (Assistant Lighting Design)  

Havalah Grace Teaman (Lead ASL Interpreter)  

Caden Zane Marshall (ASL Interpreter)  

Emily Pfaff (Stage Management Assistant)  

Alexandra Baus Pozniak (Assistant Stage Manager)  

Lina Benich (Stage Manager)