Baba Audience Guide, Amphibian Stage

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YOUR O T E D GUI BY A B BA O M N E D IM H A R IB

Themes [concepts to think about as the performance unfolds]

I mm

n o i t igra

Identity

Generational Di vi de

Longing

Father/ Daughter Relationship

for Hom e

Baggage

s i t a h W i ca r e m A ? e to m

[ ] “Who needs America?

What is America to me?”

- Mohammed in Denmo Ibrahim’s Baba

We meet Mohammed in 1982. We meet Layla in 2012. What images, events, and contexts surrounded these two in their lives in America and the world?

1982

JANUARY 26 Ronald Reagan is inaugurated as President of the United States.

FEBRUARY 1

First episode of Late Night with David Letterman, starring Bill Murray.

MARCH 29 54th Academy Awards, Steven Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark wins 5 Academy Awards.

APRIL 21

Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands becomes the first Dutch monarch to address US Congress.

MAY 30

Cal Ripken Jr.’s first game of his record-breaking 2,632 games in a row in Major League Baseball.

JUNE 30

The Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution falls short of passing.

JULY 9 Pan Am Flight 759 fatally crashes in Kenner, Louisiana.

AUGUST 20 Lebanese Civil War begins, with U.S. arriving August 25.

SEPTEMBER 15 First edition of USA Today hits newsstands.

OCTOBER 1 Walt Disney World opens EPCOT center to the public.

NOVEMBER 30 Michael Jackson releases the biggest-selling album of all time, Thriller.

DECEMBER 23 The EPA evacuates Times Beach, Missouri, due to dioxin contamination.

JANUARY 24 Barack Obama’s State of the Union address.

FEBRUARY 26

2012

84th Academy Awards, Martin Scorsese's Hugo wins big; Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black 17-year-old, is killed by George Zimmerman in Florida.

MARCH 1 Maryland becomes the 8th state to legalize gay marriage in the United States.

APRIL 2 Kentucky beats Kansas in the 2012 NCAA Division I men's basketball.

MAY 20 NATO leaders discuss action plans about the Middle East, the Afghanistan War, nuclear weapons, and Russia at the Chicago Summit.

JUNE 15 President Obama announces cessation of deportation for some illegal immigrants.

JULY 31

2012 Summer Olympics in London: Michael Phelps wins his record 19th medal, with gold in the 4 × 200 meters freestyle relay.

AUGUST 6

National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Curiosity Rover lands on Mars.

SEPTEMBER 10

Agreement for the completion of the US National September 11 Memorial & Museum on the World Trade Center site in New York City is reached.

OCTOBER 19, 29, 30

19 — At the Dallas State Fair, Big Tex burns down because of not a snake but a fire in his right boot. 29 — Hurricane Sandy hits 30 – Disney acquires Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises.

NOVEMBER 6 Barack Obama is re-elected President.

DECEMBER 14 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

New York’s Coney Island & its ties to working class immigrants

“Tomorrow, I’ll take you to our place, the most magical place in all of New York!” -

Denmo Ibrahim’s Baba

In our story, this magical place is none other than New York’s Coney Island, a location that holds the promise of a fun, fulfilling day for the father and daughter pair… someday. Located on the southernmost tip of the Manhattan island, this beachside sector became known as “The People’s Playground”1 as it hosted entertainment from amusement rides to boardwalk vendors to carnival classics in food. Unlike many entertainment predecessors, Coney Island allowed people across socioeconomic backgrounds to enjoy leisure together. When in the early 19th century working class individuals began to receive more off time for themselves, affordable transportation and cheap forms of food and entertainment grew Coney Island into the most popular place to spend weekends. In all, this isle of amusement offered a joyful escape from the hard weekdays alongside the affirmation that all people are entitled to joy.

This sensation for hot dogs, cotton candy, and Cyclones held especially true for the working classes of New York from the late 1800s and into the 1960s, decaying in the 1970s, and reviving in the 1990s. Through time, its image as a metaphorical island of good times and joy outweighs even its identity as a geographical island.

1Immerso, Michael. Coney Island: The People's Playground. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2002

Steven Siegel, NY in the 80s.

A Closer Look:

In their 9th decade of business!

Coney Island Beaches

Wonder Wheel, Carol M. Highsmith.

The Wonder Wheel

The Cyclone

Samantha Vuignier / Getty Images

Peter Bennett, Cyclone, Coney Island.

Hot Dogs

Bright Lights of Luna Park

park food to feed a-plenty

Ralph Morse The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

More than just an iconic landmark, Coney Island for decades has provided a home, both for the weekend and for life, for migrant communities. Even in the twenty-first century, “The short stretch of Coney Island Avenue from Avenue H to Beverly Road, along with the side streets leading off it, is home to an estimated 30,000 mostly working-class Pakistanis, occasioning the name Little Pakistan and making this one of countless immigrant communities that have made Brooklyn almost as rich an ethnic tapestry as Queens.” — Humera Afridi, The New York Times

Ralph Morse The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock

“Coney Island holds a unique place in American history, and in the nation’s imagination, precisely because it was open to all. It became a working-class symbol of the American democratic spirit because it was where the New York City working class came to have fun. And not just the white working class.” — Randy Shaw, Beyond Chron, The Voice of the Rest 2 Afridi, Humera. “The Coney Island of Their Mind.” The New York Times, June 19 2005.

https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/19/nyregion/thecity/the-coney-island-of-their-mind.html 3 Shaw, Randy. “Coney Island Exposed America’s Spirit.” Beyond Chron, the Voice of the Rest, February 27, 2015. https://beyondchron.org/coney-island-americas-democratic-spirit-unleashed/

Father/Daughter Relationships At the center of tonight’s play are a father and a daughter.

Both Layla and Mohammed find themselves longing for home in their own ways, but their relationship to each other is where their thoughts and musings center.

The importance of the father-daughter relationship in the Middle East has roots that can trace back to the emergence of Islam which forbids female infanticide practiced in preIslamic times.1 Since its start in the 7th century, Islam dictated that daughters be educated the same as boys and granted women basic rights—including the right to inheritance and own property.

Immigration can also play a major role in familial relationships, especially for fathers and their daughters, where the former feels the closeness may serve a protective function when facing a new culture.

Immigrant parents may also pull closer to children preserve cultural and religious traditions.2

1Surah An-Nah, Quran.com.: https://quran.com/16/58-59

2 Abdelghani, Nour. Emotional Closeness in Arab American Families. 2017. https://societyforpsychotherapy.org/emotional-

closeness-arab-american-families/

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Personal connections to baba: A guest contribution by suzi elnaggar

Baba hit close to home for me in a way that few stories do. As an Egyptian-American, I often feel like a "third culture kid" - someone who has spent a lot of time outside of their parents' culture and has grown up in another culture, yet doesn't fully belong to either of them. It's a common experience for diasporic communities, and it's something that's explored a lot in Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) theatre.

When I first read Baba, the story of Mohammed and his daughter Layla felt so similar to my own, something I rarely experience. As an Egyptian American, I've struggled with the tension between wanting to embrace my heritage and wanting to fit in. Baba doesn't shy away from exploring that tension, and it does so in a way that's honest, complex, and funny.

Growing up in a primarily white and conservative community, I experienced alienation from my Egyptian heritage. The early 2000s were a tough time to be Arab in the United States, and I felt like an outsider in my own home country. But theatre has been a lifesaver for me. It's given me a way to explore my identity and reconnect with my heritage. Plays like Baba, which tell these overlooked stories, are an important part of why I feel welcomed in the theatre.

Though Denmo and I have never met, Baba reflects my own relationship with my father, Tarek Elnaggar, who emigrated from Cairo in the 1980s.

I think being in America as an Arab Egyptian has been difficult for him, but he loves both Egypt and America (he became a citizen in 2020). In fact, when I told my father I was writing about this play, he was so proud of me.

The character of Mohammed has many similarities to my father -- including their fraught relationship with both the US government agencies and their daughters. Like Mohammed, my father faced many struggles in the United States, trying to assimilate and blend in while preserving his heritage.

It's a delicate balance, and it often leads to alienation from family and culture.

At its heart, Baba is a story about love -- the love between a father and his daughter. In my own life, my moment of reunion with my father came in my early 20s. When the pain of external circumstances, like immigration and cultural barriers, is mixed with the pain of mistakes made -- those emotional distances that are hard to cross. However, making that trip emotionally brings you to a place of healing you've never been to. In some ways, that reunion with my father was like a reunion with Egypt and the Egyptian part of myself.

One of the most special parts of connecting with my own culture is being able to share it with others. At my wedding in 2019, my aunt Jehan helped me plan a henna party (a traditional Egyptian wedding tradition) from Cairo. It was an irreplaceable feeling to be able to share that side of myself with all of my loved ones. Through Baba, Denmo explores the idea of connecting both with yourself and those you love -- across emotional, linguistic and physical distance. Theatre has the power to bring people together and help us understand each other's experiences, and Baba does just that.

Suzi Elnaggar is an Egyptian-American freelance dramaturg, performance scholar, and theatre-maker. She was a 2021 Kennedy Center Dramaturgy Intensive Fellow and works as both a developmental and production dramaturg. She holds a Master of Arts in Theatre Studies from Baylor University, where she researched the work of Heather Raffo through the lens of trauma studies.

Her research interests include recontextualizing Greek tragedy, post-colonial theatre

contexts, theatre of social change, and work that centers around SWA/MENA (Southwest Asian/Middle Eastern and North African) experiences. Her scholarship and practice centers community, collaboration, and context.

Suzi’s Website

On Immigration As you will see in Baba, there are structures in the American immigration system that cause extremely personal frustrations for families like Mohammed and Layla, from long waits to mountains of paperwork to even family separation.

Let’s take a closer look at U.S. Immigration policy .over time.

Daily Herald, 1951.

1965 IMMIGRATION & NATIONALITY ACT (HART-CELLER ACT) An overhaul of the American immigration system, this act changed the national origins quota system to a seven-category preference system. This was intended to focus on uniting families and attracting skilled immigrants.

Starting in 1968, countries in the Western Hemisphere were alotted 120,000 visas annually with no limits on country of origin.

THE REFUGEE ACT OF 1980 This general policy addressed the admission for refugees, going off the definition created by the United Nations. As a result, annual refugee admission expanded. Further executive and legislative action addressed deportation relief and admission based on region or nationality.

1986, IMMIGRATION REFORM & CONTROL ACT (SIMPSON-MAZZOLI) Gave a way for unauthorized immigrants who have lived in the U.S. since 1982 to permanent resident status to ~2.7 million.

2012, DEFERRED ACTION FOR CHILDHOOD ARRIVALS (DACA) By executive action, President Obama allows for young adults from 15 to 30 brought illegally to the U.S. to apply for temporary deportation relief and work permits for 2 years. “As of March 31, 2015, roughly 665,000 applicants had been approved for DACA.” Cohn, D’Vera. How U.S. immigration laws and rules have changed through history. PewResearch, 30 Sept. 2015. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/09/30/how-u-s-immigration-laws-and-rules-have-changed-throughhistory/

On Immigration Although thought to be a recent event, MENA migration to the U.S dates back to the 16th century, with the enslaved black Moroccan and adventurer, ‘Estevanico’ Mostafa Al-Azemmouri, the first African to step foot in modern-day Texas.

The ending of the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act which held a strict national-origins quota system favoring migration from Western Europe brought on a wave of MENA immigration to the U.S that lasted until 1990. Motivating factors for this migration include war in Lebanon and economic crises in Egypt, Morocco, and Yemen.

MENA Immigrant Population in the United States, 1980–2019*

*Important to note, however, that there may be inaccuracies with this data as many early Arabs in America had to identify as “White” in order to gain access to American citizenship.

Data from U.S. Census Bureau 2010 and 2019 American Community Surveys (ACS), and Campbell J. Gibson and Kay Jung, “Historical Census Statistics on the Foreign-born Population of the United States: 1850-2000” (Working Paper no. 81, U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, DC, February 2006), available online.

with the actors…

Part one: savannah yasmine elayyach with alyssa peters ALYSSA: Hello! So, tell us a little bit about your character.

SAVANNAH: My character’s name is Layla. She is a first generation Arab American. She’s an only child. She is very much a goofball. She is so funny and a ball of energy. When she meets people, it’s like she’s known them for 10 years. She spills all her life secrets to them. That is amplified when you’re in an airport and you’re like “I’m never seeing these people again. Let me tell my life story real quick.” It’s hard not to love her and become attached to her character. You want to root for her the whole time. These really lovely characteristics that I’m describing are also a mask for a lot of the hurt and trauma she’s been through in her life. She doesn’t know how to face the harsh realities she’s been through in life. She, kind of, deflects with humor a lot of the time. Sometimes, things get to her so much that she slips into her own reality inside her head a lot of the time. She’s going through it, we’ll just say that. Overall, she is very much a person who is confident and sure about herself except for one thing and that’s where she came from.

There’s a lot of unanswered questions for her throughout the show. She feels very lost and not completely settled into her identity. Which is why, as she is a painter, she doesn’t quite know how to finish these selfportraits that she’s started for herself. It doesn’t look like herself when she draws it and I feel like the only way she can truly find herself is by taking that leap of faith and hopping on a plane to Egypt. Hopefully, she gets those answers.

Alyssa: What things remind you of home?

Savannah: Aww, like me personally?

Alyssa: Yeah!

Savannah: Oh my gosh. Well, a lot of things remind me of home in different senses. There’s home for me in America with my two parents, who are immigrants, and my brother and sister. Then there’s the overseas home where a lot of my family resides. I’d say what reminds me of home is definitely food and music. Specifically, Lebanese food. I’m also Brazilian. We have Brazilian and a little bit of Venezuelan. So we had Venezuelan and Brazilian food and culture seeping into our lives. I definitely say the food we have over there is a big reason for gathering. Food brings people together.

Music brings people together. The sound of drums or people shaking the tambourine. People just dancing and being, like, so wild. That takes me back to my country. The common theme here is going to be community, right.

Community whether it’s family or our neighbors. That feeling connects me to my home because I feel so safe. I feel so in touch with my culture. So, I guess those are a few things. Food, music, and community!

ALYSSA: Lovely! So then, what are your travel essentials?

SAVANNAH: Oh my God. So… I’m an overpacker.

ALYSSA: Same. I feel that.

SAVANNAH: Like heavy overpacker. I do not know when to stop. I fill my suitcase to the brim with several, several outfits that I know I will not be wearing, but I’m going to pack it anyway. I definitely, like– Oh gosh. I’m trying to think… Snacks. Ohhh, Snacks. Like– I’m a hungry girl. Listen– airplane food is really great. I actually enjoy airplane food. I’m one of those people, but, you know, I like to eat so I’ll probably get something like Cheez-its or Chex Mix. I like gummy worms. I also typically like to bring my laptop and phone in case I need to do any work on vacation which I try not to do, but if there’s any auditions or anything I need to submit for, I’ll bring that. Blanket because I’m also a cold girl. I think that’s it for me, really. Like I’m an overpacker in the sense of clothes and shoes. Maybe not so much in toiletries because I’m always like “Oh, you know what? I’ll just buy it over there.” But yes, snacks and clothes!

ALYSSA: That’s perfect! So then my next question for you is what is your favorite line from the play? It can be your line or Moe’s line. Whatever is your favorite!

SAVANNAH: Okay so I have a few. Funniest lines are: “He says black and white copies are five cent a sheet, but because you’re family, we’ll make it ten.” and “Well, I hear that if you had to choose only one tomb, Tutenkhamun is king.”

Now, the two lines that I think are gorgeous and reflect Layla’s journey so well are: “I can’t see myself, my face. I try to draw my eyes, my nose… but it’s all jumbled.” and “Bismillah.” I have so many favorite lines but these all stand out to me every time I read the show.

ALYSSA: What about this play is challenging and what is fruitful for you?

SAVANNAH: I'd say the most challenging part of this play is you’re acting with yourself. It’s not just in a sense of memorizing lines because you don’t have a cue. You just, kind of, pop off of your own thoughts. If you have a completely different thought, you have to know exactly when that happens.

It’s not just in that sense. It’s the fact that you are on stage all alone. You have to go through the motions of transitions, working with props, emotional rollercoasters throughout the show– you have to rely on yourself at the end of the day for that. That can be really stressful. However, I think that it has been such a rewarding experience. Yes, it’s challenging at some points, but the goods far, far outweigh the challenges in this. I feel accomplished. I feel very proud of myself that I’m able to keep all of this in my brain while working certain things out on stage; pretending that other people are there that are not actually there, talking to and reacting to them. Hearing their questions and responding back. This is all something you are creating in your mind and you have to make it clear for the audience. I think that’s something that I’ve never truly experienced in my acting career before. It’s different, but it’s really, really nice.

SAVANNAH: On top of that, this is my first show that I’ve been able to portray somebody who is Arab. Like, ever. I’ve been acting for 15 years and this is the first show, in general, at least in DFW that has put on a show for Arab folks. The fact that I get to do this finally– it’s like a milestone, you know? I get to pour my real life experience into this show that is a very real thing that happens to my people. It happens to people of all different types of backgrounds who are coming into the country or leaving the country, whatever it might be. We hit these roadblocks. I think the community needs to see that, needs to recognize that. It’s important to me, it’s an important show, and it’s an important role. I connect to Layla in so many ways. In a sense, it feels like I’m playing me. Me, if I was in a different reality, but regardless, we have very similar life experience. I don’t think I have words for how this process has been. It’s been so fantastic and I hope you all see the show! Even though they'll probably read this as they’re seeing the show, so… enjoy the show!

ALYSSA: They can recommend it for their friends to come see the show!

SAVANNAH: Yes, yes! Well, there you go!

ALYSSA: Well, thank you so much for sitting down with me! Do you have any final thoughts?

SAVANNAH: This has been the most incredible journey; I truly feel like I’ve rediscovered new parts of myself through Layla and Denmo’s play as a whole. If Amphibian didn’t perfectly place Ahmad, Hamid, Kaitlin, me, and all the wonderful behind-the-scenes artists in one room, it would be a completely different show. The art we’ve created together is a heartwrenchingly beautiful painting brought to life, and I’m forever grateful that I got to play a part in it.

with the actors…

Part TWO: Ahmad kamal with alyssa peters ALYSSA: Thanks for coming! Tell us a little bit about your character.

AHMAD: One of my favorite descriptions about Mohammed is how he carries himself. I think they describe him as “voted most friendliest person in the office,” but at the same time; the other description that it gives him is both a clown and a lion. I think those two things fit well into who he is as a father.

Ultimately, how he chooses to identify himself, at least during this piece, is he chooses to carry himself as a father. He puts his family before his own needs. Besides that he’s a fun-loving person; he’s extroverted. He has a deep desire to impress those around him or to ensure that their time is well spent in the context of this U.S. immigration office.

ALYSSA: Wonderful! Thank you for that. What are some things that remind you of home? Whatever home is to you?

AHMAD: Food. Such a big part. Food and smell. I’m currently thinking of Egypt because I haven’t been in a while. I’ve never tested this out, but to this day, I think if I was ever blindfolded and thrown onto an airplane, I would know if I landed in Egypt based off of the smell. There’s something very specific and distinctly wonderful about it. Other people would say “smells very sweaty” but to me there’s something about it that creates a sensation of home. That and mom’s cooking. Mom’s cooking cannot be touched. I’ve gone to way too many Egyptian restaurants trying to find something similar.

It’s never as good as mom’s. She makes a bomb Molokhia, which is mentioned in the play. It’s that thin green soup. She makes amazing Mahshi, an amazing koshari.

ALYSSA: Beautiful. What would you say are your travel essentials?

AHMAD: I overheard Savannah say this, but it’s so true for me: I am one hell of an overpacker. I come from a family of overpackers. I’ve only traveled solo a handful of times and I’ve always made it my mission to be like “one suitcase… okay two suitcases.” But travel essentials… Oh goodness. I don’t know how nerdy I want to be on this, Alyssa…

ALYSSA: Be nerdy!

AHMAD: I always travel with my gaming consoles. Especially if I’m here for a long time.

ALYSSA: What gaming consoles?

AHMAD: I have a PS5 so it’s like– a monster to carry around. It’s the worst, but it’s worth it. I have to have my noise canceling headphones on the plane.

You try it once and all of the sudden you’re like “Wow, I don’t ever want to hear a baby scream” Umm. What else? I’m trying to think of an interesting answer. But just the standard, you know, you gotta have your electric toothbrush. You gotta have underwear. I pack enough underwear in case, if my suitcase gets stolen, I have enough underwear to spare. You always have enough in case you suddenly need to change your underwear three times a day. That’s the rule. So that’s the essentials, right? Anything else can be bought from wherever you end up being.

ALYSSA: That’s so interesting. Savannah said the same thing, but I have to buy all of the toiletries before I go. I don’t know why… but you’re right! I can just buy them wherever I go!

AHMAD: What I've started doing– because I’m a last minute packer, this has helped so much. I spend the two days before I pack writing a checklist of toiletries, clothes, gadgets, and miscellaneous. When it comes to packing, I’m just checking it off as I put it in and that way when I leave, I don’t have to worry about if I’ve left something. It’s very precise.

ALYSSA: Yeah! C’mon, precise! Cool so then, what would you say is your favorite line from the play?

AHMAD: Some of the Arabic that’s in the play is always wonderful. Like, I think there’s some ad libbed Arabic that I put in. He says, “Badi shaway ehna han roo und el bait. Mashi habibti. Mashi habibti” which translates to, “In a little while, we’re going home. Okay Sweetheart, Okay sweetheart.” I say things along the lines of “Anything you want, I’m at your command” and things like that. Ultimately, I think at the end of the first act, there’s a lot of mention of him saying “We’re going home, we’re going home.” I think that’s very sweet because there’s a deep cultural tie to this character that I have which is very wonderful. He’s Egyptian and I am Egyptian. His history of coming to America reminds me so much of my family's history of coming to America and the sacrifices that were made. I like this concept of how well you can continue to differentiate what home is for you and what it means to say “we’re going home.” Is it “I’m going down the street” or is it “ I’m going back to my state” or “I’m going back to my country.” I love that, for me, at least in the 14 to 15 years I’ve lived in America, that word has evolved so much in my life. A lot of times, it can feel geographically related.

A lot of times, it can feel personally related to those around you or socially, I mean. I think it’s beautiful how these characters in the play and how we, as humans, try to build community around us and how we try to build a sense of safety and home around us. I think it’s so important. We can only thrive if we do that for ourselves and those around us.

ALYSSA: What about this play is challenging and what is fruitful?

AHMAD: How about the fact that I’m on stage by myself for an hour? I keep having this nightmare– I’m great at learning lines, but I keep having this nightmare of like– you know how naturally a hiccup will occur onstage of just something? Usually, there’s a moment of panic when you all look at other cast members and you’re like “Woah, let’s get back on track.” I can’t do that with anybody! I’m looking out at the lights like “Help, Lights.” So, I would say that’s pretty challenging. I’m essentially memorizing three or four different parts because I’m memorizing the other person's response.

I’m memorizing how quick it is, how long it is, or in what emotional state it gives it back to me. So all of the sudden, I’m doing this scene… by myself.

So it’s fun and challenging, but it took a bit to get used to.

ALYSSA: What is the most fruitful?

AHMAD: The most fruitful?... We’re still exploring the staging, but what we’ve discovered is when the character, either Mohammed or Layla, breaks the fourth wall in a way that feels meaningful. Suddenly, I’m not sourcing my character in front of an audience member’s face. I’m actually looking at the audience member, themself. Those to me are always some of the most fun moments because it’s our job as artists to invite the audience into the world. It is a bigger risk/responsibility when we include them in that more of a one on one thing. I’m no longer having a conversation in a box and you’re looking into the aquarium; you are a part of it now. That– when it’s earned– is so beautiful. There are multiple moments in this play where Hamid has done such a glorious job at allowing the characters to breathe with the audience which gives the sensation of “No, I genuinely want an answer from you.”

Hopefully, they’ll be able to do that with their eyes and how they connect with the piece. What’s beautiful about this story– It’s an immigrant story, but it’s a family story. I think that’s something that anybody in the audience can relate to.

They know what it’s like to be both the parent or the child and what it means to try to adhere to rules while also trying to keep a community strong.

ALYSSA: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

AHMAD: It’s a shame not getting to work with Savannah directly on stage. She’s phenomenal. Watching her from the audience is great, but I keep wanting to be like, “Put me in coach. Put me in– I can high five her at any point.” It’s wonderful watching her work, but at the same time– sometimes at rehearsal I’m like “how was your rehearsal? I haven’t seen you all day because I’ve been in character and you’ve been in character.” I don’t think there’s anything else to add in terms of the show. The show speaks for itself.

Hamid’s vision is absolutely wonderful. Amphibian has done a beautiful job making this feel like home. We’ve all commented on it. As artists, we travel a lot. We tend to be eager to make communities with people. It takes a special type of company when y’all aid in doing that. I hope people feel at home when they see the show. I hope they call their parents after the show and tell them how much they appreciate the sacrifices they’ve made. I hope we continue to do work of people who’ve been conventionally underrepresented in the arts, specifically western arts. It’s been such a joy to play people who look like me.

Spread the word about BABA, running now through May 7th!

Community Corner:

Click on any to learn more!

Inspired to learn more about and ways you can uplift the MENA members in your community? Here are a few places to start.

LOCAL TO FORT-WORTH:

Huma Faith:

Removing Barriers That Obstruct Upward Mobility!

In order to help solve the housing scarcity recently incarcerated Muslims face, this transitional housing nonprofit is working to create a space that’s available for everybody.

ARTS-RELATED:

MENA Theater Makers Alliance This organization exists to amplify the voices of Middle Eastern and North African theater makers and expand how stories from and about our communities are told on U.S. stages in order to build a more vibrant American theater.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE MENA THEATRE LANDSCAPE IN THE US:

Click Here.

Recommendations If you enjoyed Baba, you may enjoy selections in this collection with plays dealing with topics from family relationships centered in magical realism, immigration, the MENASA experience, and questioning the American Dream. Click any dot to find out more!

Plays:

• • •

Naomi Iizuka’s Anon(ymous) Yussef El Guindi’s Pilgrims Musa and Sheri in the New World Sanaz Toossi’s English

Films:

• • •

Everything, Everywhere, All at Once The Farewell Anon

Musicals:

• •

Jacob Richmond & Brooke Maxwell’s Ride the Cyclone David Yazbeck & Itamar Moses’ The Band’s Visit

Ungrateful Refugee by Dina Nayeri Books: •• The The Arrogant Years by Lucette Lagnado

Further Resources For more of her plays, visit Denmo Ibrahim on the National New Play Exchange website

Amphibian Stage’s SparkFest 2023

Further Reading: The Power of Transformation in Denmo Ibrahim's BABA

by Hala Sayed

MENA and the Arts: Data on MENA in Entertainment and Media, 2020-2024

Credits:

This guide was created by Ally Varitek, Alyssa Peters, and Soria Adibi with guest contributions from Suzi Elnaggar, Ahmad Kamal, & Savannah Yasmine Elayyach.