Ayinom, a former soldier from Eritrea, has arrived in Canada without papers, and seeks refugee status. Seen through the eyes of the couple that take him in and the lawyer who represents him, the play lays bare some of the shortfalls of the refugee system as it exists in Canada today. Refuge combines verbatim text from CBC radio interviews with the fictional world of the characters to create a work with uncommon resonance and verisimilitude.

Mary Vingoe is a director, artistic director, festival director, playwright, teacher, and actor. She is the founding artistic director of the Magnetic North Theatre Festival at Canada’s National Arts Centre in Ottawa, co-founder and past artistic director of Toronto’s Nightwood Theatre, co-founder and past co-artistic director of Ship’s Co. Theatre in Parrsboro, Nova Scotia, and co-founder and past artistic director of the Eastern Front Theatre in Halifax. Vingoe has directed and taught at theatres and universities across the country, including Canada's National Arts Centre, Tarragon Theatre, the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, the National Theatre School, and Neptune Theatre. Her 2013 play Refuge, published by Scirocco Drama, was a finalist for the Nova Scotia Masterworks Award and was shortlisted for the 2016 Governor General's Literary Award for Drama. Vingoe's new play Some Blow Flutes was nominated for Best New Play at the Robert Merritt Awards in 2019 and is published by Scirocco Drama. Vingoe is the recipient of Nova Scotia's Portia White Prize for artistic excellence. In 2011, she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada for her contribution to Canadian theatre.

Mary Vingoe's profile page