美国国家公共电台 NPR This Play Was Inspired By A Real Refugee's Shakespearean Dilemma

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

A new play at Chicago's Goodman Theatre seems ripped from the headlines. A young man escapes a deadly civil war then confronts new dangers in the country where he's found shelter. "Objects In The Mirror" is based on the true story of Shedrick Yarkpai, a young actor who escaped Liberia during war and settled in Australia. From member station WBEZ Dan Weissman has the story.

DAN WEISSMAN, BYLINE 1: American playwright 2 Charles Smith met Shedrick Yarkpai when a theater company in Adelaide, Australia produced two of Smith's plays with Yarkpai in the lead. Smith traveled to see the productions. Afterwards, he went to lunch with Yarkpai and the theatre's artistic 3 director, Rob Croser. Here's how Smith and Yarkpai remember it.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

CHARLES SMITH: Rob and Shedrick and I sat down, and we were having lunch.

SHEDRICK YARKPAI: And then Rob said to me, say it.

SMITH: And Shedrick said, well, I have something to tell you.

YARKPAI: I started telling Charles my story.

WEISSMAN: His escape from Liberia and the crushing questions he still faced.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

SMITH: I was just amazed by it. I was just blown away. I said to him, I would like to write this.

YARKPAI: And I didn't say a word.

SMITH: I think he cried. And I cried (laughter). And we took off from there.

WEISSMAN: The play is about identity, the danger of telling the truth and of concealing 4 it. In the first act, Shedrick tells a friend, a sympathetic lawyer, about his harrowing escape and the baggage that weighs him down. He came to Australia under someone else's name - a cousin who died in the war.

(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "OBJECTS IN THE MIRROR")

DANIEL KYRI: (As Shedrick Yarkpai) I lied to the government and that makes me a criminal. And every day I lie, I sink deeper and deeper. And now I am drowning, Mr. Rob.

WEISSMAN: The lawyer offers to help Shedrick correct the record. But Shedrick's Uncle John has grave concerns. He risked his own life and orchestrated multiple lies to get the family out.

(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "OBJECTS IN THE MIRROR")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As Uncle John) You think the danger is behind us, that it's in the past, but it's not that far behind us, Zaza. The objects in the mirror are closer than they appear.

WEISSMAN: He reminds Shedrick, whom he carefully addresses by his fake name, that he can't leave behind the social reality of race.

(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "OBJECTS IN THE MIRROR")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As Uncle John) You will always be one of two things in the world, either a commodity or a liability. There is no in-between.

WEISSMAN: Uncle John flat out forbids Shedrick to move forward with reclaiming 5 his given name.

(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "OBJECTS IN THE MIRROR")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As Uncle John) As you're father, I forbid you.

KYRI: (As Shedrick Yarkpai) You're not my father.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As Uncle John) I saved your life.

KYRI: (As Shedrick Yarkpai) And what good is my life without me?

WEISSMAN: Playwright Charles Smith says it was Shedrick Yarkpai's account of this exchange that sparked "Objects In The Mirror."

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

SMITH: And in my head, I heard Shedrick's response. And the response was, well, what good is my life without me? And I thought this is just an incredible decision. It's a Shakespearean decision.

WEISSMAN: It's been eight years since Smith heard this story. The Goodman Theatre had hoped to bring Shedrick Yarkpai to Chicago for the opening.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

YARKPAI: You know, especially traveling at this time to the United States is not as easy.

WEISSMAN: In putting together his visa application, Yarkpai discovered that some documents from when he arrived in Australia still showed the name he had used to enter. Speaking from a studio in Australia, Yarkpai says he commiserated 6 with theatre director Rob Croser.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

YARKPAI: I told Rob, I said, look, I think I would've just stuck with the identity I came with. Then this would've been easier. He started laughing about it, you know? But it wasn't fun.

WEISSMAN: In the end, it was Croser who traveled to Chicago to see the premiere at the Goodman Theatre.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ROB CROSER: I found it one of the most emotional experiences that I've undergone in a long, long time.

WEISSMAN: Croser saw a version of himself on stage as the lawyer who helped Shedrick straighten out his identity. That's a role he played in real life. Croser earned his living as a lawyer, running the theater in his spare time. But "Objects In The Mirror" complicates 7 his role. In Act 2, Shedrick's Uncle John accuses the lawyer of trying to steal the young man he calls his son.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As Uncle John) Your white skin and your governmental position does not give you the right to take a man's son away simply because you believe you can give him a better life.

WEISSMAN: On opening night, some people in the audience applauded that speech. The next day, Rob Croser and Charles Smith debriefed 8.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

CROSER: I found that quite confronting, I've got to say.

SMITH: You know, Rob, I think there are a lot of audiences who agree with you. And I think there are a lot of people who had your response to that and purposely so.

CROSER: Yeah.

SMITH: Shakespeare wrote a play, and there is a speech, to be or not to be. I think that scene is a to-be-or-not-to-be scene. And if we knew whether or not we should be or not be and it was an easy choice, then, you know, there's nothing for us to do. We might as well go home. We continue to watch because we said, boy, this is difficult.

WEISSMAN: And you don't have to be a Danish prince or a Liberian refugee for that difficulty to hit home. For NPR News, I'm Dan Weissman in Chicago.