“Refuge does the important work of highlighting the uncertainty and suffering that comes with certain types of global circumstance and mobility. The piece was humorous and touching, entertaining in it's own right, but it also solicited from its audience a deeper empathy than perhaps many of us are comfortable getting in touch with. It is vulnerable to open oneself to the hardships that others cannot avoid, to become invested in outcomes over which we have little overall control—but it is worthwhile.”

I was not prepared for the intuitive, almost instinctual wash of familiarity as I watched Mouthpiece. Admittedly, I'm sometimes intimidated by contemporary theatre because I'm afraid I won't “get it”, but this show was so profoundly relatable because of it's unique use of sound, physicality, and artful allusions to overwhelmingly intricate themes. Never before have I wanted to stand up from my seat and yell, “Yes! That's exactly it! The feeling of being hot and itchy and hate-filled because you feel wrong in everything you're wearing - that's what it looks like!”