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List of contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Preface
Introduction: Polyculturalism, Transnationalism, and Diaspora
1 Major Middle Eastern American Companies
2 Return to the Homeland Plays
3 Persecution Plays
Governmental Persecution: Back of the Throat; Truth Serum Blues; Zafira and the Resistance
Societal Persecution: Autobiography of a Terrorist; Me No Terrorist; Roar; Mosque Alert; Lubbock or Leave It!
4 Diaspora Plays
Middle Easterners in the Entertainment Industry: It’s Not About Pomegranates! and Browntown
Living Between “Here” and “There”: 444 Days; This Time; Twice, Thrice, Frice…; Reading Hebron; Noura; Dragonflies; Suitcase; Living in the Hyphen-Nation
Keeping Tradition Alive: TRAF; A People: A Mosaic Play; Detour Guide
Searching for Roots: Baba and (dis)Place[d]
Diaspora and Its Discontents: Stunning, Deep Cut, and The Man in the Sukkah
5 Plays Set in the Homeland
Plays Exploring the Refugee Crisis: Urge for Going, Not My Revolution
Holocaust Plays and Plays Set in Israel and Palestine: The Zionists, Abraham’s Daughters, and Food and Fadwa
Plays and Musicals About the Troubled Homeland: Pera Palas, The Band’s Visit, and We Live in Cairo
6 Conflict Plays
The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: The River and the Sea; Abraham’s Daughters, Facts, Martyr’s Street, Wrestling Jerusalem
Plays of the Armenian Genocide: March!; Night Over Erzinga
Civil War Plays: Scorched; Game of Patience; Smail
7 The Current State of Middle Eastern American Theatre
8 Critical Perspectives
“Theatre that Disrupts Our Unconscious Bias with Humor and Joy”: An Interview with Maia Directors Kareem Fahmy, Evren Odcikin, Megan Sandberg-Zakian, and Pirronne Yousefzadeh
“Be a Part of Changing the American Narrative About the Middle East”: An interview with Golden Thread Productions Artistic Director Torange Yeghiazarian and Silk Road Rising Artistic Director Jamil Khoury.
References and Further Reading
Notes on Contributors
Index
About the author
Michael Malek Najjar is an associate professor of Theatre Arts at the University of Oregon, USA with a specialization/ concentration in Arab American and Middle Eastern Theatre forms. He is the author of Arab American Drama, Film and Performance, 1908 to the Present and the editor of Four Arab American Plays: Works by Leila Buck, Jamil Khoury, Yussef El Guindi, and Lameece Issaq & Jacob Kader. He is on the advisory board of Arab Stages.Kevin J. Wetmore, Jr. is professor of theatre arts at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, USA, the author and editor of ten books including The Empire Triumphant: Race, Religion and Rebellion in the Star Wars Films, and a contributor to numerous volumes on sci-fi, pop culture and religion, including essays on Godzilla, Star Wars, and Battlestar Galactica. His areas of expertise include Japanese theatre, African theatre, Shakespeare, Greek tragedy, stage combat and comedy. He is co-editor with Patrick Lonergan of Bloomsbury Methuen Drama's Critical Companions series.Patrick Lonergan is Professor of Drama and Theatre Studies at University of Galway, Ireland.
Summary
Middle Eastern American Theatre explores the burgeoning Middle Eastern American theatre movement with a focus on Arab American, Jewish American, Armenian American, Iranian American, and Turkish American theatres, playwrights, directors, and actors. By exploring the rich religious and cultural heritage of this diverse group - which includes Arabs, Armenians, Iranians, Jews, and Turks - and religions that include the Baha'i faith, Christianity, Chaldean, Druze, Ishik Alevism, Judaism, Islam, Mandaeism, Samaratin, Shabakism, Yazidi, and Zoroastrianism - the rich and paradoxical nature of the term 'Middle Eastern' is interrogated through the dramas written and performed by those in the Diaspora.
Featuring a clear introduction and examination of the context and the various push and pull factors that have contributed to the mass migrations to North America - including the so-called “Great Migration” of 1890-1915, the Armenian Genocide, the European Holocaust, the two world wars, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, and other social and political conflicts. With chapters devoted to Arab American, Israeli American, Iranian American and Turkish American theatre, Middle Eastern American Theatre traces the history and examines the work of key artists and directors including Heather Raffo, Yussef El Guindi, Jamil Khoury, Mona Mansour, Danny Bryck, Ken Kaissar, Ari Roth, Torange Yeghiazarian, Reza Abdoh, Sedef Ecer, Torange Yeghiazarian, of Golden Thread Productions, and Jamil Khoury, of Silk Road Rising.
The volume provides readers with a deeper and more nuanced understanding of millions of Middle Eastern Americans, and how they have contributed to American theatre today.
Foreword
This book explores the burgeoning Middle Eastern American theatre movement with a focus on Arab American, Jewish American, Iranian American, and Turkish American theatres, playwrights, directors, and actors.
Additional text
Najjar’s thoughtful analysis captures the stylistic and thematic diversity of the theatre practice of Americans of Middle Eastern descent. The region is home to dozens of ethnicities, religions, and national traditions, and—as Najjar demonstrates—the theatre’s grappling with the past and present of the region and its diasporas has produced gripping art. Najjar provides a clear and engaging overview of a remarkably vast, varied, and compelling theatre.
