Homebound’s episode nine, “Refuge” begins with poetry. And dance—the hazy figure of a woman in her living room moving to the sound of her own voice as the camera cuts to Maboud pulling an old poem, titled the “The Convergence of Sweet Things,” from a box and reading. With subtle joy.
“Because, perhaps, this thing between us,” the woman says, her voice overlaid with a soulful hymn, “could be more than moments. Maybe, if we’re lucky, it could be love.”
Turns out Maboud (Maboud Ebrahimzadeh) once had love for Maya (Maya Jackson). And Maya has a sister, Octavia, who is a Black trans woman. Maboud needs to know that Octavia is okay, so he calls Maya, and they walk down memory lane. The kind of walk that revisits the instant their relationship failed and the why, or what, that led to it and even the feelings left in its wake. What else is there to do during a pandemic but confront your past?
Right, America?
Ebrahimzadeh has a sadness about him—those expressive eyes—and the ability to be present but seemingly elsewhere. Maboud seems to be present and elsewhere in nearly every episode and, now, we know why. His reluctance to engage and connect with anyone but Craig until Lynette in Episode 7 or establish roots in one location likely stems from the broken relationship with Maya. Lost love hurts for a bit. But love that cuts you loose like driftwood will decay you from the inside out.
Jackson’s Maya is unapologetic. Fiery. Angry and deservedly so, as you’ll understand when you watch.
Jackson is a tour de force—from her dancing and movement to her reading of the opening and closing poetry and her impassioned takedown of Maboud for his failures in the relationship, tied to his lack of understanding of how her whole world was and is affected by the history of slavery and racism in America. In twelve minutes, you understand what it is to be a woman, a Black woman, an educated Black woman, a terrified sister of a Black trans woman, and an ex-lover disappointed by her man.
Writer Dane Figueroa Edidi honors not just Black lives with “Refuge,” but Black trans lives. And, whether she intended to or not, she acknowledges the collective truth that, in America, so many are openly oppressed or just discounted for not being a white man—brown and black people, trans people, and women—come up against an -ism or discrimination in overt and indirect ways daily. Cross those streams—color, gender, sexuality, disability, etc.—and the discrimination becomes injustice, then it becomes violence, and then it becomes death.
This is how people like Tony McDade, Nina Pop, Dominique “Rem’mie Fells, and Riah Milton—to whom this episode is dedicated—end up dead. And why people of all walks of humanity must become allies to make “the world worthy of good people.”
“Refuge” works on multiple levels. Both Ebrahimzadeh and Jackson give nuanced and beautiful performances that swell with the emotion of both the moment in time (pandemic, protests) and the moments between their characters. The boldness of the episode (much like “Sometimes It Snows in April”) is superb, from Maya calling Trump “an incompetent troglodyte”to her calling out the lack of Black trans representation within the BLM movement.
The forthrightness and frankness isn’t sugarcoated in humor; it is earnest and moving, and, for that, writer Edidi deserves accolades. She deftly couches hard topics in a deeply human, universally recognizable relationship. She also grows the character of Maboud within the context set by the previous writers and easily moves within the bounds of both overarching narratives: the pandemic and the fight for racial justice. Every word, every action, in “Refuge” offers a lesson in eloquence.
“In refuge, there is always truth,” Maya says in the closing poem as she dances again. “And we must tell it even when it shatters the illusions we built for ourselves. One truth is that the Black woman has always been responsible for mothering the world…Another truth is that forgiveness is not always simple.”
And now, I must ask: is Maboud still seriously considering moving to Minneapolis? What about Lynette now that Maya is back in the picture, kinda? Can this all be wrapped up in one more episode—for both him and Craig? Will they come together one last time? That is left to playwright Caleen Synette Jennings in next week’s final episode.
Round House Theatre’s Homebound is an original webseries that explores life under Stay-at-Home orders in the Nation’s Capital. “Refuge” was written by Dane Figueroa Edidi. Directed by Nicole A Watson. Featuring Maya Jackson and Maboud Ebrahimzadeh. Produced by Ryan Rilette and Ed Zakreski. Post Production Courtesy of Digital Cave. Edited by Joshua Land. Original Music Courtesy of The Curious Music Company. Sound Design & Audio Post Production by Matthew Nielson. Lighting Design by Harold Burgess. Costume Design by Ivania Stack. Reviewed by Kelly McCorkendale.
The 10 episode Homebound series is produced as a benefit for Round House Theatre’s Resilience Fund.
View “Refuge” on YouTube.
View the entire series here or on YouTube.