Riddled with political and social ambivalence, ripe with sophistication and full of deliciously playable scenes and sharply etched characters (including one of the finest roles for a woman in recent memory), Yussef El Guindi's "Our Enemies: Lively Scenes of Love and Combat," is smart, vivid theater that also should be the catalyst for a great deal of animated post-show conversation.
Read More[This] world premiere of “Our Enemies: Lively Scenes of Love and Combat” reveals an exceedingly smart, sophisticated and compelling exploration of Arab-American identity and the opportunities as well as the perils of assimilation.
Read MoreOur Enemies is a nicely written, fine acted play filled with vivid characters, some humor and lots of sexy action. Who says a play of ideas has to be dull? Not here. El Guindi is a talented storyteller with a keen eye for characterization.
Read More“The play,” [playwright Yussef El Guindi] says, “is really about the representation of Arabs and Muslims in the mainstream in the American media. And about how negative narratives in the mainstream media affect how the rest of America sees us. They think all our women are oppressed and all our men are oppressive. In part this play is about struggling against that.”
Read More[The] outlet the arts provide is giving voice to a culture that has been so often negatively portrayed through the Silk Road Theatre Project’s world premiere of Yussef El Guindi’s Our Enemies: Lively Scenes of Love and Combat.
Read MoreIn 2006, a TimeOut Chicago article posed the question, “Why is Chicago Theatre so White, and how can we fix it?” In response, four theatre companies designed a season of plays that reflected the diversity of our city. The initiative, aptly named Looks Like Chicago, offered audiences a season-long subscription series featuring plays at Silk Road, Congo Square, Remy Bumppo, and Teatro Vista—each company with its own unique commitment to cultural representation. At season’s end, subscribers gathered at the Chicago Cultural Center for a town hall meeting, which included a candid conversation on the state of diversity in Chicago theatre.
Read MoreA darkly humorous and sensual look at identity, media-representation, love, and lust in the Arab American community.
Fueled by frustration over the scarcity of Arab voices in the US media, a struggling writer, Gamal, engages in a prank campaign to shake up the system. But those in power have a way of turning the tables.
When Gamal's lover, Noor, is convinced by a prominent publisher to alter her novel to satisfy Western hunger for "Orientalist" fare, Gamal lashes out at his own community. The results are staggering.
Read MoreThis exclusive event for Silk Road Theatre Project subscribers and donors, as well as Chicago's Arab American and Muslim American communities, featured an intimate conversation with Yussef El Guindi, playwright of Our Enemies: Lively Scenes of Love and Combat and Heather Raffo, playwright of Next Theatre Company's production of 9 Parts of Desire, moderated by Artistic Director Jamil Khoury.
Read MoreNext Theatre and the Silk Road Theatre Project are coming together tomorrow to present a discussion between Arab-American playwrights Yussef El-Guindi (author of Silk Road’s world premiere Our Enemies, opening March 1) and Heather Raffo (the writer-performer of 9 Parts of Desire, coming to the Museum of Contemporary Art in May as a co-production of Next and the MCA).
Read MoreThe initiative, spurred by Silk Road, which focuses on Asian and Middle-Eastern American works, “aims at cross pollinating audiences and expanding the makeup of the art from the ground up,” says artistic director Jamil Khoury.
Read MoreTwo playwrights, two plays, two theaters. The sum is not six, but one: a celebration of Arab-American drama in Chicago that will last through the spring.
Read MoreThis award is presented annually to individuals and organizations making outstanding contributions to the improvement of human relations in the City of Chicago. Silk Road was commended for “outstanding achievements in promoting cross-cultural interactions” and “its efforts in using the theatre as a means of fighting discrimination and prejudice.”
Read MoreThe 2007 After Dark Award for Overall Technical Achievement for David Henry Hwang's "Golden Child" directed by Stuart Carden. Awarded to Rebecca A. Barrett, lighting design; Carol J. Blanchard, costume design; Lee Keenan, scenic design; D. Christopher Krause, technical director; Daniel Pellant, props design; and Robert Steel, sound design and original music.
Read MoreThe 2007 After Dark Award for Outstanding Original Music awarded to Robert Steel for Richard Vetere's "Caravaggio" directed by Dale Heinen.
Read MoreThe 2007 After Dark Award for Outstanding Lighting Design by Lee Keenan for Richard Vetere's "Caravaggio" directed by Dale Heinen.
Read MoreAn inventive fusion of Chekhov’s Three Sisters and Tagore’s The Home and the World, Sankalpan evokes a time of revolution that draws sharp parallels to the geopolitics of today. A story about self-determination—both in the psyches of individuals hungry for change and in the psyche of an evolving national identity—Sankalpan is set against the volatile backdrop of 1907 Bengal. Personal struggles play out on a national stage, which is rapidly changing as the demands of independence refigure relationships between British Imperialists and Indian Nationalists, rich landowners and poor peasants, and, most explosively, in new possibilities in the relationships between men and women.
Read MoreIf you really like the work of a particular Chicago theater company, you've probably bought a subscription ticket. Good for you. You save some bucks and get to be a part of that theater’s family of supporters. But if you prefer to spread your theater-going around, you probably rely on single tickets. They’re more expensive—but you don’t get locked into the ups and downs of one group.
Read MoreOnce again, Silk Road fearlessly tackles misconceptions and misrepresentations as only the arts can. Merchant on Venice is not only exceptionally ingenious in its reinterpretation of this classic tale of brutal bigotry and revenge but serves the purpose of illuminating the overlooked and thereby emancipating the general perceptions of our all too homogenized body-politic.
Read MorePlaywright Shishir Kurup’s bracing, ingenious pop-cult revamp of Shakespeare’s Merchant proves that the Bard’s themes and style still resonate.
Read MoreThat we, too, recognize the justice and logic of his arguments is predominantly due to the intelligent, intensely-wrought performance of Anish Jethmalani, cast against type as the embittered Sharuk, with Kamal Hans' Devendra proving an able sparring partner.
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