The Sound of a Voice / by David Hwang

The Sound of a Voice part 1: Herbert Perry and Suzan Hanson. Photo by Richard Feldman for the American Repertory Theatre, 2003

The Sound of a Voice part 1: Herbert Perry and Suzan Hanson. Photo by Richard Feldman for the American Repertory Theatre, 2003

Libretto by David Henry Hwang
Music by Philip Glass

Based on Hwang’s play of the same name, The Sound of a Voice explores intimacy between people who have lived in seclusion. In the first part, an aging Japanese warrior arrives at the home of a mysterious woman who lives like a hermit deep in the woods. Has he come as her suitor, or her assassin? In the second part, an elderly Japanese writer visits a mysterious brothel, which caters to men near the end of their lives by providing them with a means to relive their youth.

The Sound of a Voice premiered in 2003 at Boston’s American Repertory Theatre, directed by Robert Woodruff, produced in association with the Court Theatre in Chicago.