ABOUT
Rather than a traditional play or documentary-theater project performed by actors, Undesirable Elements is presented as a chamber piece of story-telling; a “seated opera for the spoken word.” Undesirable Elements/Dearborn is a live theatrical production accompanied by a live-streamed performance and a making-of-the-play documentary.
To make Undesirable Elements/Dearborn, Ping Chong + Company is working with Arab American women from Dearborn to reclaim their stories and dispel stereotypes and misconceptions. Interviews - adapted and occasionally theatricalized - form the basis of a script that weaves participants’ individual experiences together in a chronological narrative that connects the personal to the political. The script will be performed by the interviewees themselves. Performances ran May 11-12 2018 at the Arab American National Museum.
CAST
Salam Aboulhassan
Rasha Ahmed Almulaiki
Shahad Atiya
Mary Kamal Gagnon
Layla Elabed
ARTISTIC TEAM
Directed and co-wrriten by Sara Zatz and Sherrine Azab
Production Stage Manager: Jessie Balaka
Projection Designer: Jake Hooker
Lighting Designer: Chantel Gaidica
Sound Technician: Kris Truzzi
PERFORMANCE VENUE + PARTNER
Arab American National Museum
FUNDERS
Ford Foundation, Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art
MEDIA
"What Does it Mean to be Female, Arab American, and Muslim in Dearborn?" WDET.org