This talk, by Egyptian writer and theatre artist Dalia Basiouny, is sure to be interesting:
Basiouny is the founder of Sabeel Group, which focuses on promoting women’s work, researching ways of integrating theatre and video to create non-traditional plays, and performing them in alternative spaces.
She is also an academic.
She’s directed 14 plays performed in Egypt, England, the U.S. and Morocco. Her US production of Elmaz Abi Nader’s Country of Origin was presented in Kennedy Center’s “Arabesque” in 2009. Dalia also performed a monodrama, Solitaire, in both the US and Egypt. Solitaire takes its name from the card game and follows a decade in the life of a character in her thirties named Mona. The story begins with the September 2001 attacks and ends with Egypt’s 25 January Revolution.
According to promotional materials:
An Egyptian who moves to New York City with her husband and daughter, Mona is emotionally torn between her new life and her home country. Discrimination against Arab women increased in the U.S. after 9/11. In the monologue, Mona says she decided to wear the veil as a political, not a religious, decision, in solidarity with thousands of female Arabs and Muslims being repeatedly searched and detained at U.S. airports. Mona decides to return to Cairo and participate in Tahrir protests and marches organized by university professors.
Prepare for the talk:
Red Wigs and Lettuce: Passing Through the Heart with Dalia Basiouny
