The Profane

This one by Zayd Dohrn creeps up on you.  In the beginning you are quite sure there will be some cultural issues - but even up to intermission you are not entirely sure with whom they will be.  Turns out the playwright perhaps could have done a better job, at least earlier on, of identifying the beliefs and points of view of the characters.

Not all is lost, however.  Once you pick up on the family and cultural disconnects, you're fine.  Both families are Muslim, which, as stated is not clear up front.  You first meet Raif (Ali Reza Farahnakian) and his family Emina (Tala Ashe), Aisa/Dania (Francis Benhamou) and wife Naja (Heather Raffo).  His daughter is bringing home a boy Sam (Babak Tafti) for an unspecified reason. It is not until Act II that we meet Peter's family Peter (Ramsey Faragallah) and his wife Carmen (Lanna Joffrey).  Cleverly disguised as a mysterious member of the family is again Francis Benjamou.  This is where the plot thickens.

The gist of the plot is that two Muslim families really have two entirely different beliefs and outlooks on religion, culture, freedom, and America itself.  Yes - it turns out to be true that Islam is not a one-size-fits-all religion.   Worry not, religion is never even brought up - this entire conflict is brought up by placing the two children at the center of the family drama.

Without spoiling what goes on- suffice to say that the play explores many avenues and points of view and does not really take one - but rather plays out the inevitable clash between them.  There's definitely another play in here - as there were too many unexplored avenues and opportunities to explore characters more.  And I would certainly look forward to hearing the playwrights expounding on any number of the avenues he explored in this excellent family drama.

Invasion!

Get your wallet out now. Pull out $30 bucks and fork it over for a ticket to the box office at Walkerspace for the powerhouse Swedish playwright Jonas Hassen Khemiri's US debut of Invasion!  Ask no more questions.  Do not hesitate.  This is without a doubt one of the best plays I have seen this entire season - and that includes Broadway, off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway. It's an extremely intelligent, linguistically complex, politically charged, attention grabbing, rapid-fire tour-de force for each of its 75 sharply written, cunningly directed, and superbly acted and deliciously well received minutes.

Each of the four young actors - Francis Benhamou, Andrew Guilarte, Bobby Moreno, and Debargo Sanyal (known only as Actors A, B, C and D) performs at full throttle the entire evening - never missing a beat or a word or a queue.  Emotions run the gamut from scene to scene but the pace is relentlessly and purposefully quick.  Scene changes are executed with precision and aplomb  By the time you reach the end, you find yourself at the beginning again.

I won't pretend to understand everything the playwright had to say.  There was too much there for my brain to have absorbed every layer, every overt or subversive gesture, word and idea.  Hours after the play ends and you're sitting at TriBeCa Bread enjoying your 3rd Manhattan, a new meaning or the nuance of a scene will reveal itself to you.  This, I promise.  Everything may not be as it seems.  Don't believe everything they tell you.  Open your eyes and think for yourself.  Think.  Period.