A diplomat and his wife take in a nanny from Cameroon to help raise their children. But what happens when she isn’t allowed to leave? In a darkly absurd look at human trafficking and domestic servitude, Housebound examines two mothers’ dependency on one another, fireflies, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and what freedom truly means in the United States of America.
(3 F, 2 M)

DEVELOPMENT:
I have been developing Housebound in a unique and extended collaboration with director Shana Cooper. First, Shana and I interviewed human trafficking survivors in Washington, DC over the course of several months. Then (before I had written a word of the play) we held a week-long workshop with five actors, a dramaturg and three designers. Using Shana’s Essence Work approach, we explored non-verbal creative interpretations of our research, and the designers papered our walls with visual inspiration. Then, I went away on a retreat to write the first draft. In both November 2017 and April 2019, we collaborated with Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company for two additional (more traditional) workshops.