I Come in Peace and Bootleg Islam

This evening will feature two plays by Arab-American playwrights Dean Obeidallah and Negin Farsad to commemorate the fifth Anniversay of the September 11th attacks.

I Come in Peace

Staged for the first time as part of the 2006 New York International Fringe Festival and produced by the critically acclaimed New York Arab-American Comedy Festival, I Come in Peace chronicles the life of Dean Obeidallah as an Arab-American trying to survive in the post-9/11 world. It is as much about his own personal experience as it as about the collective experience of the entire Arab-American community. “I used to be a white guy before 9/11, but not anymore,” declares Obeidallah. “White people are never racially profiled in America, but I can tell you Arab-Americans definitely are.”

Bootleg Islam

Written by Negin Farsad, this play is a comedy about a California-raised Iranian-American girl who travels to Tehran, Iran for a cousin’s wedding and is exposed to Islamic style oppression for the first time. A true story told through the eyes of this 20-something, beer drinking, hamburger eating, honest-to-god American; Bootleg Islam offers a glimpse into often misunderstood Iranian society in language New Yorkers and moreover, Americans, can appreciate.