Palestine

• Alive from Palestine: Stories Under OccupationMarch 2, 2021 - 5:18 pm

  An ongoing series of sketches by the Al-Kasaba players centering on the theme of media representation. Alive From Palestine: Stories Under Occupation is a theatrical expression of how Palestinians and their stories have become just another news item for the rest of the world, whilst for Palestinians, it is their life, humanity and existence. The show depicts Palestinians living, dying, crying, laughing and struggling for a normal existence against a backdrop of disaster and uncertainty.

• The Final Month of the Fifth YearMarch 2, 2021 - 5:09 pm

  The Final Month of the Fifth Year tells the story of Jaber, a Palestinian-Syrian playwright who escaped Syria and lives as a refugee in Gaziantep, Turkey. Jaber is a journalist, and works with a radio station that supports the Syrian revolution. Jaber meets Fadl, a 20-year-old young man who escaped from Aleppo, and begins writing a play based on Fadl’s life, following his difficult journey from Aleppo to Idlib and eventually Turkey. Two additional characters are introduced: Tuba, a half-Turkish, half-Syrian girl who was born and raised in Turkey and who works as translator in the same radio that Jaber works for; and Younes, a Kurdish-Turkish young man, who once had a short-lived relationship with Fadl. Jaber finds himself losing faith in himself and his ability to tell stories, as the complexities of Fadl’s history multiply and embroil everyone around him. Ultimately, Jaber’s attempts wear away at his relationship with Wash, his girlfriend, a character we only meet over video calls. Jaber begins, too, to question his sexuality, and most characters question their understanding of the concept of identity.

• Before DinnerMarch 2, 2021 - 5:00 pm

  Before Dinner follows a single brutal night of conversation between a mother and a son. The mother is a schoolteacher, and the wife of a martyred Palestinian fedayi. The son is a theater student. Before Dinner is a play about generational struggle, and about the inheritance of a generation of young people who came of age during the Arab Spring. It is about what can be said and what can’t, and about the silences and absences that become deafening when parents and children can no longer hear each other. It is about the way successive disasters have forced specific cultural climates on each generation, and the different ways in which each generation finds itself haunted by defeat.

• HandalaFebruary 23, 2021 - 6:06 am

  Handala is a play that I wrote based on the cartoons of Naji Al-Ali. I am inspired by his work throughout the years before his assassination in London in 1987, and the life that his cartoons still have after his death. As
  a writer, I also identify with the symbol of Handala, as it represents the continuation of struggle and resistance against the illegal Occupation. I call active, unarmed resistance “beautiful resistance,” and that is what Naji Al-Ali engaged in: beautiful resistance. I felt it was important to adapt his cartoons for the stage because they are still very relevant. There is so much false history that works to wash the truth of our memories away. Naji Al-Ali, the artist, is an important role model for the continuing commitment to human rights and values. Al-Ali’s creation, Handala, which is often humorous, represents the guardian of these same rights and values. I think that the cartoons of Handala are an intelligent and anguished cry against all the compromises and degradation of our values and rights. Handala’s spirit creates space for crushed people to speak, and to challenge the politicians and merchants of rights and values. Handala is also a vehicle through which we can reclaim our true histories.

• The Right MoveFebruary 23, 2021 - 5:54 am

  The Right Move deals with the issues of Palestinian women in the Labor market, and work places. It tackles the women’s concerns, problems, and unfairness in dealing with their abilities. It sheds light on the issues of the gap between the wages of women and men in the labor market; the unemployment and the lower professional development opportunities for women than men.

• Half Sack of BulletsFebruary 17, 2021 - 7:44 pm

  Kamilya is operating with all means to prevent Jewish settlers in the old city of Jerusalem from confiscating Haji Saleh’s old café. The haji is her late father in law. Half Sack of Bullets takes place on the cafe’s grand opening night, as Kamilya tells us the real story of the fall of Al Kastal.

• Oh My Sweet LandFebruary 17, 2021 - 6:36 pm

  Called “extraordinary” by the San Francisco Chronicle, Oh My Sweet Land returns to Bay Area home and community kitchens after a sold-out pilot run in October 2017. The tour-de-force solo show, based on interviews with Syrian refugees in Jordan, takes an unflinching and personal look at the Syrian refugee crisis, and the brutal war that led up to it. In the play, a woman of mixed Syrian-German parentage recalls her encounter with Ashraf, a Syrian man in Paris, all the while preparing kibbeh, a Syrian delicacy. When he disappears, she goes on an arduous journey in search of him that leads to stirring conversations with some of the two-million Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan. One part detective story, one part a woman’s reckoning with her heritage, Oh My Sweet Land offers an intimate and nuanced perspective on the conflict in Syria and highlights the resilience of the Syrian people. Oh My Sweet Land runs one hour followed by a 30-minute food sharing and community conversation. Instead of a traditional theater space, Oh My Sweet Land will be performed in kitchens around the Bay Area with performances followed by food sharing and community conversations. The performance includes the cooking of meat, onions, wheat, and spices.

• Tales of a City By The SeaFebruary 16, 2021 - 5:18 am

  ‘Tales of a City by the Sea’ is the story of two people who meet and fall in love in the besieged Gaza strip, woven together from the actual experiences of people living under occupation. Jomana, a Palestinian woman living in a Gaza refugee camp, falls in love with Rami, an American-born Palestinian doctor and activist who has just arrived on one of the first Free Gaza boats in 2008. Their love is met with relentless string of challenges. Ultimately, Rami must decide between returning to his comfortable life in Texas and staying in Palestine with Jomana. Choosing to stay means leaving his family and career behind for a life ravaged by war, while leaving means not only losing Jomana but also ignoring the plight of the Palestinians.