Staging Muslims: Identity Angst In American Theater
Hammaad Chaudry's new play An Ordinary Muslim pushes against limited perceptions of Muslim-Americans, but it may be pushing against too much all at once.
In the great cultural 'awokening' that has followed the rise of Donald Trump, the stories of Muslim-Americans wrestling with questions of selfhood, belonging, and bigotry have seen their own flowering. In film, television, comic books and memoir, there has been an ascendant generation of Muslim artists claiming their space in the representation conversation. For the second and third-generation of hyphenated artists making this work, it's an unapologetic reclamation of their narrative from terrorist headlines. One of the more rich and surprising developments in this wave is the emergence of Muslim-American theater.
The medium rewards combustible characters that clash and chafe against others
