Wajahat Ali

Ali tells the story of his family who immigrated from Pakistan in the mid-1960's. He is the only son in his family although he has a large extended family. He recounts his awkwardness as a fat kid, his many near-death experiences, the trauma he experienced when his parents were arrested and when his daughter was diagnosed with liver cancer. He looks at how Americans treat immigrants and other brown people that they encounter, the influence of Trump and how we can hope to create a more inclusive socieity.… (lisätietoja)

First public reading: 2004
First Staging: July 15-16, 2005, Berkley Repertory Theatre; September 2005, San Jose State University Theater.

Family drama is not a new territory for playwrights - the more common and unremarkable the family is, the closer they feel to a reader/a theater-goer and that adds to their charm.

Written in the aftermath of 9/11, the play introduces us to 3 generations of a Pakistani-American Muslim family - the parents, the 3 children and a grandfather. Wajahat Ali chooses to introduce the different members slowly, 1 at a time (except for the first scene where we meet two of them), allowing the viewer/reader to slowly get drawn into the family - the stay-at-home Mom who is now working part time, the hard working father, the oldest son who is in an open conflict with his own father over being too Americanized and not listening to his elders, the middle child and only daughter, a hijab wearing lawyer and, the youngest son who is studying to be a doctor and the father's father - a veteran of the Pakistani army and a dotting grandfather.

It almost looks like a perfect picture (except for that eldest son). But as with most families, the surface is not the reality - the daughter wants to marry a Black American, the youngest boy really does not want other people to make his choices for him and all that untangles while the shadow of 9/11 and the war on terrorism sweeps the nation.

Wajahat Ali sets the play in a single day - the 21st birthday of the youngest son and that allows him to bring the family together. In that regard, that family is exactly as any other - get them all together and the old clashes and wound resurface - a mother who really does not want to hear about her child marrying someone who is black, the sons who are tired of the high expectations of the family but react to them in different ways, the father who is ready to almost ignore his family for his work and yet does not get what he expects in return.

And somewhere in there emerges the story of the country in the early days of the 21st century - being Pakistani-American makes you different in some ways, being a Muslim may mark you as someone to be afraid of but part of the issues are recognizable by anyone - because families are families. And even when you are the one who people are afraid of or discriminate, you are not exempt for doing the same to other people. Add the grandfather finally deciding to tell his own history to the grandchildren - which manages to show different sides of all of them - even in the world they live in, even with all the complaints they have about America, their parents and the world in general, reality tends to shatter ideals and requires people to make decisions about where they are standing on some issues.

Noone in the family is perfect and the play showcases that - they are all flawed and yet, they are all relatable.

This edition of the play contains an introduction by Ishmael Reed, a foreword by Hasan Minhaj, a conversation between Reed, Ali and Carla Blank (the original director of the play) and a note about the writer. They all talk about the history of the play, the history of plays about families and about minority families and the influence of the play since its original staging and publishing. They get a bit repetitive in places but I suspect it was unavoidable if you want to include all of them.… (lisätietoja)