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The play 'Sharon and My Mother-in-Law', which is in English and will run for 10 nights until October 26, is a black comedy that follows Suad Amiry's journey from falling in love with Ramallah, with occupied Palestine and with a 36-year-old professor at Birzeit University to the Israeli re-occupation of the already Occupied Territories in 2002. Suad Amiry, who currently lives in Ramallah, is an architect and the founder and Director of RIWAQ, Centre for Architectural Conservation, in Ramallah. She grew up in Amman, Damascus, Beirut, and Cairo, and studied architecture at the American University of Beirut and at the universities of Michigan and Edinburgh, where she received her Ph.D. Amiry participated in the 1991–1993 Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations in Washington, D.C., and from 1994 to 1996 was Assistant Deputy Minister and Director General of the Ministry of Culture in Palestine.
Sharon and My Mother-in-Law, the book, is based on Suad Amiry's diaries and email correspondences from 1981 to 2004. It won Italy’s prestigious Viareggio-Versilia prize for international literature in 2004 and was long-listed for the Lettre Ulysses award for reportage.
Afaf Shawwa Bibi, who also wrote the play and produced it with her husband Bassem Bibi, plays the role of Suad Amiry. Afaf has worked and lived in the U.S., Canada, the Middle East and Europe. She is a founding member of Nibras, the Arab-American Theater Collective and co-creator of the award-winning show Sajjil (Record). Her performances include: Mai Ghoussoub’s Texterminators (Beirut); Hicham Jaber’s Kissat Mawt Najib Brax, directed by Hicham Jaber and Grid Iron’s Ben Harrison (Beirut); Aliyya Khalidi’s Ayyam Beirut; the hit comedic play Live! With Pascale and Chantal (NY); Interfaith Project’s Same Difference (NY); and Haya Husseini’s Cracking Mud is Pinching Me (NY). In addition to her extensive acting training in New York and London, she has an MA in Communication from New York University and is a communications trainer and consultant.
Afaf said: “I loved the book when I read it in 2004. It really did make me laugh and cry at the same time. I gave it to my husband (then fiancé) to read and when he finished it, he said to me, “You HAVE to make this into a play. I can absolutely see you playing the part of Suad. She’s very animated!” She went on to say: “I had reached a point in my acting career, having done years of theater in New York, where I was ready to create my own work. This book provided me with the perfect vehicle to do so: I feel very passionate about the material (Palestine).”
Afaf described Amiry’s approach to the Palestinian issue as “a refreshing and unique voice, different from the usual somber reflections we read about or the news reports we watch; it gives a personal account and an insight into the everyday life of a female Palestinian architect choosing to live under occupation- something we rarely get to see; and its style is comedic, which I very much enjoy and am told is my forte.”
Afaf recounted: “I contacted Suad Amiry, whom I know personally, told her my vision for the play, and she was kind enough to give me the green light.” Yet, adapting the book into a play “was not easy at all. Firstly, I wanted to make sure I was being true to the book and doing it justice, as it was about Suad’s real life events. Not only that, but the book has received a lot of attention, has been translated into 17 languages and for it, Suad received Italy’s prestigious Viareggio Literary Award – a lot to live up to! I also had to balance that (being true) with the challenge of allowing myself the artistic freedom as I wrote.”
Afaf noted that “a lot has developed in Palestine since Suad’s book came out. Some people were skeptical about the play and its timing, implying that I “missed the wave” and saying that “people aren’t as sympathetic with the Palestinians as before, now that there is internal fighting”. But I feel that the story is still a very relevant one, and life under occupation continues. Whether we’re talking about 1998 or 2008, the fact is that there is still occupation, curfews, checkpoints, permits. So the play being in the recent past is a non-issue. People who have read the book, be they Palestinian, Arab, or non-Arab, related to the human side of it. That’s why I feel strongly that the play be produced. It is a compelling story that needs to be told.”
Two staged readings were done of the play:
• One in Spring ’07 at the New York Theatre Workshop, as part of the ASWAT Voices of Palestine event organized by Nibras, the Arab-American Theatre Collective (of which Afaf Shawwa Bibi is a founding member).
• The second, which was in December ’07 at the Finborough Theatre in London, was a culmination of several days of workshopping the play with actors to see what worked / didn’t work.
According to Afaf, “both readings were very important steps in the development of the play.”
The play is produced by Bassem Bibi and his wife Afaf Shawwa, and directed by Hassan Preisler. Preisler lives and works as an actor in Denmark and was appointed Cultural Ambassador for 2008 by Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess of Denmark and was subsequently awarded the Annual Award for Further Development by the Danish Actors' Association. He has played major roles in numerous films and theater productions. In September 2008, the feature film Green Hearts, in which Hassan Preisler has the leading role, will premiere on national Danish TV. Hassan Preisler has taught drama and acting at universities and theater schools and has directed acclaimed performances with international casts, among them Tanadi and Looking for Love in Beirut.
Razanne Carmey (dramaturge) started writing for British theatre in 1998. She turned to political theatre in 2001 with two short plays about the Nakba commissioned for the Peacock Theatre in London's West End. Since then, she has researched and written extensively about the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. Her plays How Palestine Became Israel (2006) and Sunlight at Midnight in Sabra and Shatila (2007) were produced in London Theatres, and It Happened in a Place Called Palestine (2007) in New York. Razanne is a co-founder of Palestine Theatre in Motion (PTIM) has directed and produced for theatre since 2000. As artistic director of Script-to-Stage, she was involved in dramaturgy and script development of more than 120 new plays.
Beside Afaf Shawwa Bibi, the play’s cast includes four other talented, up-and-coming actors: Mike Ayvazian, Chadi Tarek, Carole Ammoun and Layal Ghanem.
Mike Ayvazian has been teaching theater in schools and in workshops all around Lebanon for the past 8 years. After graduating from IESAV-USJ with a BA in Theater Arts and a Masters in Directing, he founded the 'la Warshé' theater workshop in Jemmayzé. He directed and performed in many plays, and has attended numerous workshops (corporal expression, mime, clown, dance, commedia dell'arte ...) all around the world. Mike will be soon presenting (as writer and director) the first play produced by 'la Warshé' theater workshop.
Chadi Tarek has performed in France, Romania, Canada, Morocco and Tunisia in many plays, including: Waiting for Godot, Mr Leonida, The Bear, Belgrade Trilogy, and When the Wine is Cold. He trained as an actor in Romania and Los Angeles. Chadi is a veterinary surgeon.
Carole Ammoun has extensively trained in acting through several classes and workshops mostly in Paris, but also in Beirut, Minsk, and New York. On stage, she has performed in I had a Dream, directed by Vincent Byrd Lesage, and in Haki Neswan directed by Lina Khoury. On screen, she has acted in Danielle Arbid's feature film A Lost Man. Carole has also worked on the theater production of the following plays: Ben Harrison's Those eyes that mouth, Hisham Jaber's Kissat Mawt Najib Brax, Elie Karam's Chlah el Tarboush and Bint Jbeil. In addition to her experience in theater and film, Carole has published a short story and has co-written a play for the Festival du Jamais Lu in Montreal.
Layal Ghanem obtained her BA in acting and directing in 2003 from the Lebanese University. Her final university project, Dayman Maa’ Baa’d, ran at the university theatre for 6 months and took part in the LAU Theatre Festival and Ariane’s Festival in Tunis. She has performed in both Not in My Name and Al Khiam with the Living Theatre after a two-week intensive workshop. She was in Kamil Saleme’s Bi Kil Bassata and Bi Hosnet Hal Tafala. Lately, she participated in the Ancient Greek Theatre Festival in Cyprus with D. Elie Lahoud, playing Jocasta in Oedipus Rex. She was the mirror in Bassem Feghali’s Fawazir Ramadan: Alf Wayli Bilayli, and has acted in many soap operas on TV, including Altaghia (Marwan Najjar, LBC) and Hotel el Afrah (Roua’ Production).
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