The connected nature of New York City has been depicted in countless movies and television shows. Truth be told, the city of 8 million has people interacting with other people every moment of the day, which is why episode six of Master of None felt so authentic.
The episode titled, “New York, I Love You” is already a favorite, which highlights the lives of three characters who unknowingly come into contact with each other. One of the characters is Maya, played by actress Treshelle Edmond, who is a deaf bodega clerk wanting more sex with her husband.
“To be honest, my first thought was oh my Goodness!!!,” the 26-year-old star told ESSENCE about the “lick my vagina” scene. “I am way too shy to say this on camera! But as I got to know more about the character Maya, it gave me a lot of strength to be open minded enough to talk about sex on camera.”
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“Sexual situations are rarely discussed when it comes to deaf and hard of hearing people on screen, so I hope this showed people that we all share things in common.”
Edmond’s scene starts off in the bodega where she works, ringing out a customer who’s buying kid snacks as a meal. After struggling to understand each other—she asks if he has a kid, he acknowledges that he doesn’t but eats like one— the man then compliments her eyes with the wrong sign messages. She corrects him by typing out what he said on her phone.
“I wear hearing aids in both ears in real life. The scenes in Master of None, episode six happen to me almost daily. There are some people who are not willing to even try to communicate with deaf people so that is why I use my phone or they will use theirs to type in messages,” Edmond said.
“Basically, the phone has replaced the pen and paper where people would write things down to communicate. But some people don’t even want to try to communicate with a deaf person and seem afraid to talk to us or ask questions. We are just regular people too. Don’t be afraid. Talk to me! I love talking to people.”
So what’s next for the rising star? Lydia in the first revival of Children of a Lesser God at Berkshire Theater Group in Stockbridge, MA (info here) directed by Kenny Leon.
“It was a beautiful thing for Alan Yang and Aziz Ansari to incorporate these important moments all in one episode,” she said about with the Master of None creative duo.
“I can’t thank them enough for this opportunity in displaying deaf characters and deaf culture.”