ORONO – Before an audition for Orono Community Theatre, Simon Bilyk had acted onstage exactly once. He had three lines in the production of “Bye Bye Birdie” put on by Orono High School, where he is a junior. Because he is a violinist, Bilyk had also played music in front of an audience. But here’s what he had never done: performed in sign language.

The role for which he auditioned was Tuc, a deaf boy who is the central character in Susan Zeder’s Depression-era play “Mother Hicks,” being performed Friday through Sunday at the Keith Anderson Community House in Orono. When Bilyk accepted the part, he also took on the responsibility to study regularly with sign teacher Anna Caballero. While the rest of the cast has speaking roles, the actors had to learn sign for choral parts, which Caballero also coached.

Caballero was at the audition back in November, when the play was cast. She recommended that director Sandy Cyrus Lewey consider Bilyk for the part because of “his affect.”

“Simon has a lot of poise for a 17-year-old kid,” said Caballero, who teaches at Bangor Interpreter Agency and Orono Adult Education. “It’s not fair to say Simon knows how to sign now. But he does know how to sign the character of Tuc in ‘Mother Hicks.’ And I have enough trust in his signing ability that, this Sunday, when we have a signed performance, he is going to sign for himself.”

To prepare for the role, Bilyk practiced both with and without a mirror. Sometimes, he and the assistant director, Afton Cyrus, would spend an hour or two signing their own conversations. For some rehearsals, Bilyk wore earplugs but when they didn’t block out the stage sounds sufficiently, he began wearing headphones tuned to the white noise between radio stations.

Learning to sign has been challenging, Bilyk said, but it has heightened his awareness of the world around him and taught him to focus his attention not on sound but on silence.

Bilky also said the role suits him in several ways. His background in music helped him understand the rhythmic quality of signing, and script notes he took about attitude were often written in music terms. For instance, in one scene of mounting tension, he has penciled a crescendo mark in the margin.

Because Bilyk is naturally shy, he was drawn to a role that required not spoken but physical expression.

“It’s great because I don’t like to talk anyway,” he said.

In the preface of her 1984 play, Zeder, the playwright, recommends casting a deaf or hearing-impaired actor as Tuc, but ultimately leaves the decision to the director. Lewey would have liked to follow Zeder’s urging, but felt the pressure of a 22-rehearsal time frame. Never having worked with a deaf actor before, she knew that her process of adjustment would involve not only more time but a restructured directorial approach.

Now that Lewey knows Caballero, however, she looks forward to planning a production of Zeder’s other play, “The Taste of Sunrise,” which reveals Tuc’s story and features a deaf cast.

Orono Community Theatre will present “Mother Hicks” 7 p.m. May 3 and 4, and 2 p.m. May 4 and 5 at the Keith Anderson Community House on Bennoch Road in Orono. The Sunday show will be sign-language interpreted. For information, call 866-5065.