Arab American Drama, Film and Performance - A Critical Study, 1908 to the Present

537 Pages·2015·3.013 MB·English

by  Michael Malek Najjar

Also by Michael Malek Najjar
Four Arab American Plays: Works by Leila Buck, Jamil
Khoury, Yussef El Guindi, and Lameece Issaq & Jacob Kader
(McFarland, 2014)
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Arab American Drama, Film
and Performance
A Critical Study, 1908 to the Present
Michael Malek Najjar
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGUING DATA ARE
AVAILABLE
BRITISH LIBRARY CATALOGUING DATA ARE
AVAILABLE
e-ISBN: 978-1-4766-1865-4
© 2015 Michael Malek Najjar. All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying or recording, or by any information storage
and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publisher.
On the cover: Amal (Chelsee Carter) in the University of
Oregon production of Heather Raffo’s 9 Parts of Desire,
directed by Michael Malek Najjar, produced by the
University of Oregon (photograph by Ariel Ogden)
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
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Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface
Introduction: Defining a Genre
1. “Unresolved sorrow and uncomprehending anger”:
Contemporary Arab American Identity Formation
2. “We are not of the East or West”: Origins of Arab
American Drama in the Works of Rihani, Gibran and
Naimy
3. “There’s nothing funny about your people”: Arab
American Comedy and Stand-Up Performance
4. “It’s not profiling, it’s deduction”: Post–9/11 Arab
American Drama
5. Suffering for Palestine: Palestinian American
Playwrights
6. Arabs Filming Arabs: Contemporary Arab American
Films
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7. “A psychic civil war onstage”: Arab American Solo
Performance
Conclusion
Appendix: Abridged Chronology of Arab American
Drama, Film and Performance, 1896–2015
Chapter Notes
Works Referenced
List of Names and Terms
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Acknowledgments
Creating a manuscript takes a great deal of time and support. I
wish to thank the talented writers, filmmakers, and performers
included here who have devoted their careers to dramatizing
the experiences of Arab Americans in their plays, films, and
performances. Your works are truly inspiring, and I hope this
volume helps to make those unfamiliar with this genre aware
of your talents.
I also thank my mentors—professors Sue-Ellen Case, S.I.
Salamensky, Carol Fisher Sorgenfrei, Nouri Gana, and Susan
Slyomovics—for their guidance during my studies at UCLA.
Thanks to the Eugene V. Cota-Robles Committee for
allowing me the opportunity to study within the University of
California System. I especially wish to thank Jamil Khoury
and Malik Gillani for supporting my artistic endeavors by
allowing me to direct both Precious Stones and my own play
Talib at Silk Road Rising. Of course, I wish to thank all of my
colleagues at the University of Oregon for their continued
support and guidance. I have found both an artistic and
academic home at the University of Oregon, and I’m grateful
for the opportunity to work at such a supportive and collegial
institution. I wish to especially thank May-Britt Ostersen for
her assistance in securing the permissions for the photographs
included within this book. I could not have done this without
your help. Also, I wish to thank the Oregon Humanities
Center and the University of Oregon College of Arts and
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Sciences for providing me subvention funds for this
publication.
I also thank everyone who aided me with my research in the
United States and abroad. There have been many who assisted
me, including Mona Arslan, Cherien Dabis, Christine Fish,
Joseph Fakhri, Guita Hourani, Hisham Naimy, Nadeem
Naimy, Ameen Albert Rihani, Nefertiti Takla, and
Christopher Tayback. Special thanks to those who allowed
me permission to utilize photographs, including Andrea
Assaf, Holland Baird/The Alliance Theatre, Sayed Badreya,
Sarah Bazzi/AJYAL Theatrical Group, Cherien Dabis, Malik
Gillani, Bill Huntington, Jennifer Jajeh, Jamil Khoury,
Nadeem Naimy, Rana Halabi Najjar, Noor Theatre, Ariel
Ogden, Ameen Albert Rihani, Heather Raffo, Christopher
Tayback, Leon Milad Tuma, Wesleyan University, and
Winnie Hershewe.
Lastly, I must thank my family, especially my cousin, Dr.
Nada Najjar, and my uncle Dr. Abdallah Najjar, for instilling
in me the inspiration to learn more about my rich heritage and
culture. To my mother, Samia, and my sister Dina: your love,
patience, and support have made this entire venture possible,
and I could not have achieved my life goals without you.
Thanks to my cousin Dr. Linda Najjar and my dear friends
Roger Jameson, Jason Riggs, Khaled Hamadeh and Gary M.
Bowne. Thanks too, to my extended family: Abbas, Julie, and
Deanna Halabi and to my mother-in-law, Salwa Kantar.
Thank you for welcoming me to your beautiful family and
helping me achieve my goals.
To those actors, choreographers, stage managers, assistant
directors, and designers with whom I’ve collaborated, I thank
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you for helping me bring my own productions to fruition.
Also, thanks to my students who teach me so much every day.
Finally, I dedicate this volume to my beautiful wife, Rana,
and my precious daughter, Malak. You’re my heart, my soul,
and my inspiration. I love you always and forever.
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Preface
The idea for writing a book about Arab American drama,
film, and performance came to me years ago when I spoke to
another theatre colleague about an Arab American play I was
reading. This colleague, who was well versed in many forms
of intercultural and international theatre, asked me, “Is there
such a thing as Arab American drama?” I realized then that
there were few, if any, in the theatre who knew of the many
playwrights, filmmakers, and performers who are, and have
been, inadvertently creating a genre for over a century. The
omission of these works from the theatrical canon is worth
questioning. As a former theatre student with three advanced
degrees who has studied in the United States and abroad, I
can tell you that I was never assigned a novel, play, or book
of poetry by an Arab American. Why was that, I wondered?
Was it a matter of ignorant omission or outright exclusion?
My desire to meld my passion for the theatre and my interest
in my Arab culture has led me to examine the history and
literature of those writers who have traditionally been
excluded from the theatrical canon. I have come to realize that
this exclusion has occurred for many reasons: the inability (or
aversion) of scholars to translate these plays from Arabic to
English, the lack of access to many unpublished works, the
exclusion/omission of these plays and productions by
professional and semi-professional theatres, and the lack of
books and anthologies about the subject that attempt to define
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