assist in his attempts to reform the power structure at the state school for the deaf.

Orin Dennis
Orin, who is two years younger than Sarah, has been her classmate at the State School for the Deaf since childhood. Unlike Sarah, Orin has some residual hearing and actively practices both lip-reading and speaking. He is described as "the guardian of all... deaf children because he [is] an apprentice teacher and speaks." Additionally, he is characterized as someone who "wants to lead a revolution against the hearing world and thinks [the deaf] can hardly wait to follow him."

Orin feels betrayed by Sarah, believing she has left him and the deaf community for James and the hearing world. Despite this, he recruits both of them to support his complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, alleging discriminatory hiring practices against deaf teachers. Driven by his mission, he persuades lawyer Ms. Klein to provide legal counsel for their case. Orin urges Sarah to abandon her "little romance" and join his fight for deaf rights. His proficiency in lip-reading and speaking allows him to act as a liaison between the deaf and hearing worlds, though his thoughts and actions reveal a stronger affinity for the deaf community.

Mr. Franklin
Mr. Franklin is the Supervising Teacher at the State School for the Deaf and is considered one of the "Great White Fathers" of deaf education. He adopts a patronizing attitude towards everyone, viewing all deaf individuals, including adults like Orin and Sarah, as dependent children needing his protection and guidance. His facade of compassionate benevolence cracks when he tells James: "Mr. Leeds ... we don't fornicate with the students. We just screw them over. If you ever get the two confused ... you're gone." Later, when James approaches him to negotiate a settlement in the discrimination case, Mr. Franklin refers to the deaf as his "subjects" and vows that, regardless of the commission's decision, he will force Orin and Sarah to take him to court. If they succeed, he promises to appeal, entangling them in prolonged litigation.

Edna Klein
Ms. Klein is the lawyer assisting Orin with his discrimination claim against the State School for the Deaf. She lacks the ability to sign or communicate effectively with Orin and Sarah. Ms. Klein intends to read a prepared speech before the commission, but Sarah accuses her of presenting "the same old shit"—portraying deaf people as helpless and dependent on hearing individuals. Although well-meaning, Ms. Klein fails to recognize Orin and Sarah as capable individuals who can advocate for themselves.

James Leeds
The play unfolds within the mind of James Leeds. Similar to Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, characters emerge from James's memory "for anything from a full scene to several lines." James Leeds is a speech teacher at the State School for the Deaf.

Lydia
Lydia, a student at the State School for the Deaf, is in her late teens. Like Orin, she has some residual hearing and diligently works on her speech and lip-reading skills. However, Lydia lacks Orin's maturity and frequently seeks James's attention throughout the play. As one of James's students, she interacts with him often, which develops into a schoolgirl crush. After James marries Sarah, Lydia takes over Sarah’s previous role as "maid." Lydia often visits the Leeds residence to "watch TV" and be near James. She aspires to appear "hearing" and even criticizes James after Sarah leaves, saying, "You need a girl that doesn't go away. You need a girl that talks."

Mrs. Norman
Mrs. Norman, Sarah's mother, is a hearing woman whose husband left shortly after Sarah was sent to the State School for the Deaf. At the start of the play, she appears to be a bitter woman, frustrated and challenged by parenting a deaf child. She seems indifferent to James's comments about Sarah and her potential, lamenting that she feels like "another mandatory stop in some training program for new teachers at the school." However, after James arranges a visit between them, Mrs. Norman reconciles with Sarah. She attends Sarah and James's wedding and joins them for a bridge game with Mr. Franklin at the beginning of Act II. When Sarah leaves James, Mrs. Norman welcomes her with open arms.

Sarah Norman
Sarah, a woman in her mid-twenties, has been deaf since birth and works as a cleaning woman at the State School for the Deaf. She refuses to speak and rejects James's therapy efforts, stating, "I don't do things I don't do well." Throughout the play, Sarah communicates using American Sign Language (ASL), a conceptual and pictorial form of expression, rather than the Signed English method favored by James. She only speaks in the play's final, climactic scene.

The physical nature of sign language adds an eloquence to the dialogue that speech alone cannot achieve. Despite her impressive performance at the card party in Act II, which tests her integration into the hearing world, Sarah confesses to James, "I feel split down the middle, caught between two worlds." This internal conflict is central to Sarah's character. Like Nora in Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, Sarah asserts her own identity, telling James, "Until you let me be an individual, an /, just as you are, you will never be able to come inside my silence and know me. And until you do that, I will never let myself know you. Until that time, we cannot be joined. We cannot share a relationship."