Objects in the Mirror 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.”
Objects in the Mirror premiered at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre in 2017.
Synopsis
After surviving a tumultuous upbringing in war-torn Liberia, Shedrick Yarkpai has found a new home in a sunny, coastal Australian city. Safe from the horrific perils of guerrilla soldiers and refugee camps, Shedrick now faces a different type of danger: the haunting memories stirring inside him. Inspired by writer Charles Smith’s friendship with a Liberian refugee-turned-acclaimed-actor, the playwright crafts a harrowing story of personal honor vs. familial obligation and the responsibility that comes with being a survivor.
“Visual portrait of jet-fueled dislocation and migration that you don’t have to have been a refugee to have felt.”
– Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune.
“This is a masterful drama on every level.”
– Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times
“This ensemble takes what is already a damn-near perfect play and turns it into one of the year’s most essential productions.”
– Kevin Greene, Newcity Stage