Four Arab American Plays

Four Arab American Plays is the first published collection of plays by contemporary Arab American playwrights. Based on true stories from her life as the daughter of a Lebanese mother and American diplomat father, Leila Buck’s ISite invites the audience on an intimate journey in search of identity, home, and the space in between. Jamil Khoury’s drama Precious Stones boldly examines the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the “safe” yet turbulent terrain of the American Diaspora. Yussef El Guindi’s Our Enemies: Lively Scenes of Love and Combat is a darkly humorous and sensual look at identity, media-representation, love and lust in the Arab American community. In Lameece Issaq and Jacob Kader’s Food and Fadwa, a Palestinian family living under occupation fights to hold onto their culture and traditions while still celebrating love, joy and hope. A preface by Arab American scholar Michael Malek Najjar and a new essay titled “Towards an Arab American Theatre Movement” by Silk Road Rising’s artistic director, Jamil Khoury, concludes the book—a valuable expression of Arab American life and theatre in the United States. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

Michael Malek Najjar is an assistant professor of theatre arts at the University of Oregon and is a director, playwright, and scholar of Arab American drama. He lives in Eugene, Oregon.

Edited by Michael Malek Najjar

Afterword by Jamil Khoury

Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 200
Bibliographic Info: 8 photos
Copyright Date: 2014
pISBN: 978-0-7864-7486-8
Imprint: McFarland

Editor’s Acknowledgments v
Introduction by Michael Malek Najjar 1

The Plays
Leila Buck’s ISite 21
Jamil Khoury’s Precious Stones 45
Yussef El Guindi’s Our Enemies: Lively Scenes of Love and Combat 87
Lameece Issaq and Jacob Kader’s Food and Fadwa 139

Afterword: Toward an Arab American Theatre Movement by Jamil Khoury 187

“This volume and the work of the artists it features serves as a good example of arts activism among a generation of professional Arab American theater artists in the U.S. in the 21st century”—Mashriq & Mahjar