Scorched is that rare play that truly manages to convey the spirit of Greek tragedy in a contemporary setting. That's exceedingly hard to achieve... Here, that Sophoclean sense of everything coming together, that paradoxical enigma of how the harder and harder you try to climb out of the muck, the deeper and deeper you sink in the swamp. All that somehow feels logical in this world, where your childhood gets stuck in your throat for life.
Chicago Stage Review By Venus Zarris October 12, 2010
The production values of Scorched are excellent. Tom Burch creates a stylized authenticity with his impressive scenic design. Dialect Coach Eva Breneman beautifully supports the uncanny rendering of Lebanese accents. Projection Designer Mike Tutaj stunningly enhances the conception of the show with haunting imagery.
Chicago Theatre Beat By Keith Ecker October 11, 2010
Scorched is one of those rare plays that successfully crosses over into multiple genres, from historical fiction to family drama to mystery. If you want to see a great story beautifully told, see this show.
Around the Town Chicago By Alan Bresloff October 11, 2010
While the topic of “Civil war” is essential to the play, this is not really a “war story” but rather an exploration of some of the results of war, as well as a love story that is difficult to comprehend at first, but once you view this masterpiece of theater, you will see that this type of thing may not be fiction at all.
[Mouawad’s] laserlike vision and heated language, combined with the actors’ prowess and the very handsome design work [...] result in genuine “scorched earth” theater.
[Playwright Wajdi Mouawad's] poetic flourishes (rendered from the French by prolific translator Linda Gaboriau) are compelling, and his themes build to a climax that’s gut-wrenching—even to those paying attention to his Greek allusions.
Chicago Reader By Albert Williams October 10, 2010
[The] twisting tales [the script] tells are important and compelling. And the superb Chicago premiere production, directed by Dale Heinen, succeeds completely. The first-rate ensemble totally invest themselves in their multiple roles, while a crack design team transforms the intimate, low-ceilinged basement theater into a convincing replica of a desert village.
Modern warfare has erupted in an increasing number of plays on Chicago’s stages of late.. The trend ramps up this season, beginning with this week’s Scorched at Silk Road Theatre Project.
The Chicago Premiere Written by Wajdi Mouawad Translated from French by Linda Gaboriau Directed by Dale Heinen
Inspired by classical Greek tragedy and the devastating effects of the Lebanese civil war, the internationally-renowned play Scorched was originally written in French by the acclaimed Lebanese French Canadian playwright Wajdi Mouawad. Carried aloft by poetic language and evocative imagery, Scorched unfolds in a dreamlike atmosphere connecting the origins of one family in startling and unforgettable ways. A brother and sister raised in Quebec must return to their mother's war-torn country to carry out her last wishes—finding the father and brother they never knew they had.
Talib (Arabic for student) is set amid the aftermath of the Iraq War. Famous Iraqi actress Hannan Al-Najaf is invited by her friend Aida Al-Masri to stage her war drama at a major American university. When she discovers that an Iraq War veteran has been cast in her play, Hannan must confront her past and decide whether or not she can go on with the show. Talib explores the complicated dichotomies of war from the point of view of the soldiers and civilians and asks if, after so much loss on both sides, reconciliation is possible.
Silk Road Cabaret Singers Christine Bunuan, Dipika Cherala, Joseph Anthony Foronda, Erik Kaiko, Govind Kumar and David Rhee, under the musical direction of Peter Storms, sang the National Anthem for Asian Heritage Night at U.S. Cellular Field, home of the Chicago White Sox.
After his Buddhist mother dies of cancer, a college-circuit comedian on the road has 100 days to marry in order for his mother's spirit to transition in peace. Reluctant to fulfill this superstitious condition, the man awkwardly reunites with his estranged and married high school sweetheart. The death that reconnects these two as adults turns out to be their source of salvation.
Theatreworld Internet Magazine By Ruth Smerling March 28, 2010
[Playwright Jamil Khoury says,] "Seeing that such a distinguished group of playwrights agreed to take this journey with me (responding affirmatively to my invitation typically within the number of seconds it took to explain the concept) is testimony both to the power of ancestry and our innate desire to discover something new and unexpected about ourselves.”
WLT - A Publication of the University of Oklahoma By Jamil Khoury March 28, 2010
In an unpredictable encounter between art and science, seven playwrights from Asian, Middle Eastern, and Mediterranean backgrounds agreed to take DNA tests and then write short plays exploring their ancestry and identity.
The University of Chicago Magazine By Brooke O'Neil March 28, 2010
“Everyone’s engaged in a conversation about identity,” says Khoury. "Regardless of who you are," [playwright Jamil Khoury] says, "when it comes to the forces of family, heritage, and now genetic legacy, understanding what it means to be you is no easy task."
On the Edges of Science and Law By Lori Andrews March 18, 2010
Oh, oh, I thought. I'd seen data showing that the genealogical tests are not very accurate... When the performances began, though, my concerns about determinism vanished. The playwrights had caught the nuances, complexities, heart-wrenching conflicts, and occasional zaniness of DNA testing.
[In the] provocative seven-play pastiche that is The DNA Trail, Khoury's WASP is a highlight as it spotlights the danger of assumptions. And the gobsmacking depths of stupidity light skinned fellows named Jamil encounter on a regular basis.
This panoply of seven plays by seven playwrights seems perfect for Silk Road. Its mission to showcase playwrights of Asian, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean descent, and the short form allows the playwrights behind "The DNA Trail" to range wide 'globally' to trace out who they and their families are.
Chicago Free Press By Lawrence Bommer March 16, 2010
Playful and philosophical, personal and educational, the short works, warmly staged by Steve Scott, richly explore the mystery of ancestry, specifically how much we owe to the gene pool we swam in and how free we are to forge a future different from the cumulative contributions of centuries of chromosomes.
