(2016) Playwright Statement: Nahal Navidar on Then Came the Fall
"As an 18-year-old in my first month of college, I had anxieties typical of most freshman that included passing my gen eds so I could focus on my major. However, when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center less than 170 miles from my University and home in upstate New York, my worries translated to fears of a completely different kind. These fears had been shelved and forgotten in the twelve years since my family and I immigrated to the United States from Iran. As the months passed, I found I had no place in the tight-knit community that formed as my classmates bonded over their grief. My name, once an embarrassment for being unusual, now identified me as Middle Eastern. My voice, once reserved, now felt lodged in my throat and yearned to scream as classmates express hatred and wishes for violence against “the people over there.” My dreams, dreams to study acting and give life to other’s voices, now felt arbitrary. Why give voice to others when I wasn’t allowed my own? My first play, 110 Flights, was born as an emotional out pour of these stifled thoughts. Fifteen years later, we live in a nation where the ideals of Donald Trump are not contained in one man, but rather, horrifyingly stir the emotions and festering fears of thousands of Americans. Then Came the Fall is a page one rewrite of my 18-year-old cultural isolation and awakening. Though I've further developed relationships and plot points, the echoes of a xenophobic post 9/11 nation remain. Then Came the Fall hopes to compel a dialogue that we were incapable of embracing 15 years ago."
(2016) Director Statement: Azar Kazemi on Then Came the Fall
"Nahal Navidar gives a voice to Middle Eastern Americans in Then Came the Fall. A voice that has been silenced since that September morning fifteen years ago. A morning that feels like a moment ago as our country continues to live with violence and heartache daily. This play is important to me as an Iranian American who still doesn't recognize the country I was born in and wonder if I'll ever feel that my voice can be heard. This play feels like a beautiful start to breaking that unbearable silence."