[1][2][3] Tongues is a series of monologues set to percussion and meant for one actor.
It was first performed at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco, by the playwrights themselves: Chaikin provided the voice of the speaker,[4] and Shepard as the director and instrumentalist.
The play is set on a bare stage, with a single chair draped in a Mexican blanket for the speaker.
The sole character is the speaker, who begins telling the story of a nameless man.
The speaker then goes on to impersonate different people such as a mother, a worker, and a "voice to a Blind One".