Escaping the horrors of his war-torn homeland, Liberian refugee, Shedrick Yarkpai, hopes to begin anew in Australia. But his path to peace is haunted by an explosive family secret and Shedrick must confront the ghosts of his past to reclaim his present. Objects in the Mirror illuminates a war refugee’s dangerous odyssey in this gripping story about identity, survival and the sacrifices of assimilation.

Objects in the Mirror was developed by Goodman Theatre in Chicago in 2016 and produced by Goodman Theatre in 2017. It was directed by Goodman Theatre resident director, Chuck Smith. The production featured Allen Gilmore as John Workolo, Daniel Kyri as Shedrick Yarkpai, Ryan Kitley as Rob Mosher, Lily Mojekwu Loupu Workolo, and Breon Arzell as Zaza Workolo.

Synopsis

Shedrick Yarkpai, a Liberian refugee living in Australia, is the target of a racial epithet hurled at him by a city bus driver while boarding the bus. Rob Moser, a white Australian attorney who has befriended Shedrick, wants to file a complaint and have the driver fired. However, Shedrick is reluctant after discovering that he would need to give his name. His reluctance leads to Shedrick opening up about his 10-year journey from his home in war-torn Liberia to refugee camps in Guinea and Côte d’Ivoire, where he endured squalor, hunger and disease. He was eventually rescued from this despair by his Uncle John, but was then forced to assume the identity of John’s deceased son. Now safe in Australia, Shedrick yearns to reclaim his true identity. Rob believes this can be achieved through a simple legal procedure, but John, skeptical of Rob’s intentions, is vehemently opposed to it. This leaves Shedrick torn between reclaiming his identity and staying loyal to the man who saved his life.

Inspired by a true story, Objects in the Mirror was named one of six finalists for the 2018 American Theatre Critics Association’s Steinberg Award. Established in 1977, the Harold and Mimi Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award recognizes playwrights for the best scripts that premiered professionally outside New York City during 2017.

According to the American Theatre Critics Association, Objects in the Mirror “compellingly takes us into the mindset of the masses of refugees fleeing wars and other violence and their struggle against great odds to survive and escape.” It’s about both “the price of immigration, and the importance of identity, with a second act that feeds on the first act in clever ways but takes us in a new direction.” “I was also moved,” said one panelist, “by the identity crisis at the heart of the play—the hunger to reclaim a self and name that no longer belong to you.” It conveys “a great deal about how worlds apart people can be, how different their ideas of how to help.”

Cast size: 4m., 1w.

Available through Dramatic Publishing