The powerful Tony Kushner drama \Homebody/Kabul"" is currently being performed at the University Theater. The story is about the need to protect one's family and one's country from hate and corruption and overcome feelings of loss by using hope from within.
Kushner wrote the play in 1998, before Sept. 11, 2001, and it acts almost as a precursor to the horrors that many were awakened to. Kushner shows how Kabul, Afghanistan, once a vibrant city, is now a place of ruins and restrictions, where anyone can be killed at a moment's notice.
Director Norma Saldivar hopes that audiences will develop a more in-depth understanding of Kabul's struggles after seeing the play.
""With the war in Iraq, we've forgotten Afghanistan-that the country was decimated and there isn't an infrastructure,"" Saldivar said. ""I hope the play will give [these issues] a more personal feel, to introduce them to some people and clarify them for others.""
""Homebody/Kabul"" is performed in two halves. The first half is a monologue given by the Homebody, who is fascinated with the people, history and culture of Kabul. She is frustrated with her husband and afraid to comfort her daughter, who has returned home after dealing with her own feelings of loss. The Homebody believes her touch will only corrupt, and at the end of the monologue, she packs her bag and leaves for Kabul.
Patricia Boyette, a UW professor of theater, plays the Homebody. She feels the complexity of the story has given her a new appreciation for Kabul.
""From the beginning, Afghanistan should have developed into one of the most extraordinary places on Earth,"" Boyette said. ""[Today], it's been reduced to heaps of rubble, full of crime and sadness, but at the same time, Kushner brings up the paradox of the beauty that remains amidst such devastation.""
Immediately following the Homebody's exit, the husband and the daughter are in a room in Kabul, where they are told that the Homebody was killed in the streets but her body has not been recovered. Unable to believe that her mother is really dead, the Homebody's daughter, Priscilla, hires a guide and goes searching for her.
When asked what she would do in a situation such as this, Saldivar said she would do anything necessary to find that person, especially if it was her mother.
""The connections we have with parents and children are the deepest connections you could possibly have,"" Saldivar said. ""It's hard to predict what one would do in any kind of situation like that.
Throughout the play, Priscilla faces her own demons, accepts her father for who he is and begins to understand just what lengths the people of Kabul will go to in order to find freedom and happiness once more.
Carrie Coon, who plays Priscilla, said that as a student, this story opened her eyes about life outside of campus and hopes all students will learn from the play.
""It's easy when you're in university to feel like you're living in a bubble, that you can neglect what's going on in the rest of the world,"" Coon said. ""[Thanks to the show], I feel motivated to be more active in my engagement with what's going on in the world today.""
""Homebody/Kabul"" is a moving story of one's home and homeland. Its message is to open our eyes to an unknown world and really see it, its history and story, but to never shut out the ones we love. It's a relevant, contemporary piece and something everyone should experience.
