City Garage is proud to present the west coast premieres of two plays dealing with displaced people. Though "Bounds" is from Sicily, and the other "I Want A Country" is from Greece, both speak to not just the worldwide crisis of unwanted refugees and vilified immigrants, but to the hunger, here as elsewhere, for a more just, humane, and compassionate society.

“Bounds” by Tino Caspanello

Translated by Haun Saussy

Five women are stranded on a beach in an unknown country. They might be displaced persons, refugees, unhoused, undocumented immigrants. What we do know is that they are unwanted. They pass the time by playing games and singing songs, they fantasize about belonging, and they compete. One of them, they know, will be selected. But who will that be? While they wait, bonds are created, ties of affection. “Bounds” is a story about us, about the truths we take for granted, and about a society unable to exist without bonds. It is also about “the others,” about those to whom we open our doors—or refuse. It is a story about cages, violence, dreams, a story that reflects our time, a time when we struggle with the rules, obligations, and prejudices that keep us from looking in the eyes of our neighbors.

(To see both plays, go to "I Want a Country," also at City Garage.