Arab and Muslim American Female Playwrights: Resistance and Revision Through Solo Performance A dissertation submitted by Megan Stahl In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Drama TUFTS UNIVERSITY May 2016 © 2016 Megan Stahl Advisor: Dr. Barbara Wallace Grossman ii Abstract Within the dominant narrative constructed about the events of September 11 and the subsequent War on Terror, the United States government and Western media ostensibly defined and categorized the disparate peoples of the Middle East and South Asia into fixed generalities for mass consumption. In particular, the representation of Arab and Muslim women as oppressed and voiceless became a prominent trope used to justify American military engagement in Iraq and Afghanistan. In response to the conventionally passive and limiting portrayals of Arab and Muslim women, playwrights such as Heather Raffo, Rohina Malik, Laila Farah, and Bina Sharif created through their solo performances a multitude of female characters who question and contradict such generalizations. Considered collectively, the dramas produced by these artists together create a theatrical form of resistance and revision as a means of bearing witness to the contemporary realities of Arab and Muslim American women. Through an analysis of the theatrical self-representation of contemporary Arab and Muslim American female playwrights and solo performers, this dissertation examines the ways in which these one-woman shows are challenging the stereotypical racial discourses perpetuated about Arabs and Muslims after September 11. The playwrights in this study use solo performance as a means of negotiating current tensions surrounding the representation of their race, culture, and gender, simultaneously demonstrating and critiquing the construction of collective identities. It is the purpose of this project to illuminate and explore commonalities that have emerged as part of this theatrical resistance, and to iii consider the cultural and political identities that have been presented to contemporary audiences as a result of such practices. Within the chapters of this study, I investigate these artists’ use of narrative structure, costumes and props, language, and politics in their efforts to redefine the contemporary representation of Arab and Muslim American women on stage. iv Acknowledgements This project would not have been possible without the encouragement, patience, and generosity of Barbara Wallace Grossman. Her perceptive comments and thoughtful questions on each chapter were invaluable, and I am so grateful for the care she took in helping me bring this project to fruition. I consider myself extremely lucky to have had her as my mentor throughout my time at Tufts. Many thanks as well to my committee members, who have been incredibly gracious with their time and support. Monica White Ndounou’s guidance as my Master’s thesis advisor helped prepare me for the next steps in my graduate career, and I am grateful to have her insight once again on my dissertation. James Al-Shamma gave me the opportunity to share an excerpt of this project as part of a conference panel on Arabic and Arab American theatre, and I feel fortunate to have the input of someone so knowledgeable in this field. I am also much obliged to Noe Montez, who has been exceptionally generous in his willingness to serve enthusiastically on my evaluation committees every time I have asked, and whose advice always perceptively combines the practical and theoretical. I am immensely thankful to my parents, Bill and Nancy Hammer, who fostered my love of theatre and worked so hard to give me every opportunity to pursue my passion. The support of my cheering section in Chicago— Scott, Julie, and Elliott Hammer— is appreciated more than they may know. I also wish to thank Fiona Coffey for her friendship and advice; from New York to Medford, I could not have wished for a better colleague with whom to share these adventures. v I am not sure that I can adequately express my gratitude to my husband, Adam Stahl, who never wavered in his support and encouragement of my work. His selflessness has known no bounds throughout this process, and for that I will be forever grateful. And to my son, Ian: Thank you for understanding that I was frequently attached to my computer during your first few years of life. I know you cannot quite understand this now, but your smiles and hugs helped me work through any challenge I faced with this project. Finally, I would like to dedicate my dissertation to my late grandfather, Joseph Tamburo. Although he is unable to celebrate the completion of my degree, I will always be thankful for the encouragement and pride that he expressed in my academic pursuits. As the son of two Sicilian immigrants trying to make a new home in Newark, New Jersey, he found his own path to the American dream through a career in education. He dedicated his life to teaching, but still thought of himself as a student, always learning something new. His unyielding curiosity is something I strive to emulate, both personally and professionally. vi Table of Contents Abstract................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements................................................................................................ iv Introduction: Who Tells Your Story?........................................................................................... 1 Chapter One: Out of One, Many................................................................................................. 47 Chapter Two: Found in Translation: Cultural Mediation Through Performance and Pedagogy............................................................................................................. 105 Chapter Three: Politics, Patriotism, and Theatrical Protest: Gendered Political Performance After September 11...................................................................................................... 167 Conclusion.......................................................................................................... 213 Bibliography....................................................................................................... 226 1 Introduction Who Tells Your Story? Although the two military operations initiated by the United States at the beginning of the twenty-first century— the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan and the war in Iraq two years later— were fought overseas, the resulting sociopolitical climate in America was ultimately destructive in its own way. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, interest and questions about the peoples of South Asia and the Middle East proliferated. Curiosity quickly turned to misconceptions, however, as varied and complex racial, ethnic, and religious identifications became consolidated in monolithic representations. The images and stories about Arabs and Muslims subsequently perpetuated by the American government and media ostensibly defined and categorized disparate peoples into fixed generalities for mass consumption. In a televised address to Congress on September 20, 2001, President George W. Bush described publicly for the first time the people responsible for the attacks, referring to members of the Taliban as “enemies of freedom” and detailing their acts of terrorism committed across the globe. He included in this list the oppressive measures the group had enforced in Afghanistan: “Women are not allowed to attend school. You can be jailed for owning a television. Religion can be practiced only as their leaders dictate. A man can be jailed in Afghanistan if his beard is not long enough.”1 These broadly drawn characterizations and the context in which they were presented established 1 George W. Bush, “Address to the Joint Session of the 107th Congress, September 20, 2001,” in Selected Speeches of President George W. Bush 2001-2008, accessed February 20, 2016. http://georgewbushwhitehouse.archives.gov/infocus/bushrecord/documents/ Selected_Speeches_George_W_Bush.pdf. 2 a number of binaries that came to define the dominant discourse of American wartime narratives after 9/11: terrorist versus victim, civilized versus uneducated, us versus them. Such identifications became, in turn, convenient tropes used to support specific political agendas within the framework of Bush’s War on Terror, which he described as the fight “of all who believe in progress and pluralism, tolerance and freedom.”2 Historian Nada Shabout points out that within these narratives, Arab and Muslim women in particular have been “transformed into unfortunate objects of pity,”3 an image that was evoked as a justification for the United States’ involvement in Afghanistan as well as the invasion of Iraq. The enormity of the misrepresentation of Arab and Muslim women in the context of war is evident in the rapidity with which these interpretations solidified in the national consciousness. A month after the attacks of September 11, then First Lady Laura Bush delivered a radio address in which she cited the cruel treatment of women in Afghanistan as a primary reason for United States military action in the region. The speech is replete with words and phrases— such as oppression, severe repression, brutality, and punishment— that position these women as victims in desperate need of saving. “Civilized people throughout the world are speaking out in horror,” said Mrs. Bush, a sentiment that can be construed as indicating that