The first episode of Round House Theatre’s new weekly webseries Homebound is a quick, slick, fluid slice of life in the pandemic. The opening sequence—a close-up of hand washing as if it’s an extreme sport followed by the required forehead temperature check—encapsulates the reality of America these last six-ish weeks. Then, flashes of the quarantine life: lists of essential groceries, news conferences, empty Metro cars, a requisite gallery of Zoom people. The new, familiar, normal.
The date is March 16, 2020. The time is 10:30am. The place is Washington, DC. The situation is COVID-19. The directive is to shelter in place. The feeling?
“A little stir crazy,” says Maboud (Maboud Ebrahimzadeh) “but, you know, it’ll be over soon, just eleven days.” He attended a conference where someone, shortly after, fell ill with the coronavirus. Presumably he must now self-isolate for 14 days, but his friend, Craig (Craig Wallace), has had a Zoom mishap.
Homebound, over the next 10 weeks, will explore Maboud and Craig’s relationship as they navigate a world gripped by a pandemic which they must handle within the confines of their respective abodes. Others—friends, co-workers, maybe family—will jump in, mostly on Zoom (presumably). What elevates this over other series out there? A different local playwright will helm each episode, writing in real time to define the relationships and chart the plot as they go, picking up where the last writer and episode left off. It’s a kind of a choose your own adventure for them with very few rules and a lot of trust in those that came before. Round House has packaged together a lot of known concepts in an interesting way to create a novel one that makes artistic use of sparse resources (the backdrop, props, and wardrobe? the actors own homes and affects).
In episode one, “Connect!,” everything feels familiar in a haunting way, like watching our family and friends spar over how to turn off the filter that makes poor Craig look like a potato. Maboud and Craig banter effortlessly with easy humor. If Craig looks more like a talking thumb that’s hanging out underground to you, blame it on Snap Camera.
It does grow on you—cue the “spud-nit” joke. Or start to gain a certain “gravitas” as Craig (the potato) puts it.
And then Maboud coughs and brushes it off. As one does, or, rather, as many did a few short months ago. Thinking all they had was a common cold. Maybe allergies. This is the most intriguing, and open-ended, bit of the story, written by Washington Post columnist Alexandra Petri who mostly imbues the episode with an upbeat feel (weren’t we all that naïve on March 16?). Except for that damn cough. If it were any other March, it would just be a cough. But, it is 2020, which infuses the whole series with a dark current that next week’s writer could use to thread a needle of despair because, as we all know by now, the coronavirus is often unpredictable in its handling of the infected.
Both Maboud and Craig, as characters are likable. I don’t want anything bad to befall them, but I’ve been making those lists of essential groceries, watching those news conferences, hanging with Zoom people and ridden a few empty buses. Everything here feels real. Uncomfortably real. Too real.
The question, then, is do we want to follow wherever Homebound may go while so many of us are still homebound?
As a series idea, Homebound is, so far, spot on. “Connect!” is amusing and well written (and I anticipate the coming episodes will be too). As far as a place in history, I see Homebound having an important one, as it’s capturing the look, feel, smell, taste, and anxiety of this unfolding pandemic (kudos to everyone involved in production on that). As far as its success, and ability to hold an audience, the playwrights need to surprise us—in good ways and bad —and make us feel like we’ve not left our lives for 11 minutes to just go live out their lives for 11 minutes.
If Homebound writers can surmount that challenge—capture the moment while surprising the audience —then it will be gold stars all around.
Homebound is an original webseries that explores life under Stay-at-Home orders in the Nation’s Capital. “Connect!” was written by Alexandra Petri. Directed by Ryan Rilette and Nicole A. Watson. Featuring Maboud Ebrahimzadeh and Craig Wallace. “Homebound” staff: Editor: Johnny Monday. Sound and original music: Matthew A Nielson . Title Swquence and Credits: Jared Mezzocchi . Lighting Advisor: Harold Burgess . Costume Advisor: Ivana Stack . Story Editor: Gabrielle Hoyt . Playwright Liaison: Agyeiwaa Asante . Actor Liaison: Sara Patterson . Equipment Liaison: Chris Hall . Graphics Design: Kent Kondo . Produced by Ryan Rilette and Ed Zakreski. Reviewed by Kelly McCorkendale.
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