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December 5 - December 29, 2002
Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at 8PM
Sundays at 3PM

SALAAM Theatre
Geeta Citygirl, Artistic Director
invites you to attend this World Premiere production.

Theater for the New City
Crystal Field, Executive Artistic Director
presents

Democracy in Islam
written and directed by Bina Sharif

Islam is a cultural phenomenon in 24 countries of the world.  "Democracy in Islam" reflects and examines the representation of Muslims and Islamic culture in America and the West, in general.  Through the portrayal of a Pakistani-American Muslim family living in Manhattan's East Village, Bina Sharif explores the liberalism within this family that seems to be buried beneath a conservative image of what Islam is believed to be.  A divorced mother trying so hard to be American dealing with one son who is suddenly engaged in studying Islam, another son who is in complete denial of his roots and is engaged to a white American woman whose family has doubts about the whole Muslim thing, plus a (Sunni) lesbian daughter and her (Shia) revolutionary peace activist girlfriend combined with news reporters, "Islamic scholars" and an ancient spirit from Persia set the stage for this hilarious and thought-provoking dramatic piece.  "Democracy in Islam" is Sharif's latest work.

featuring (in alphabetical order):
Micah Bucey, Geeta Citygirl, Kevin Mitchell Martin*, Aly Mawji, Laili Paksima, Jennifer Pearson, Darryl Reilly, Vitoria Setta & Bina Sharif*.

*Appearing courtesy of Actors Equity Association.

Theater for the New City
155 First Avenue
Between East 9th and 10th Streets
East Village, Manhattan, NYC

Admission: $10 (TDF Vouchers accepted)
Buy your tickets ONLINE at http://www.theaterforthenewcity.org
or
make a reservation directly with the TNC box office
Phone: 212-254-1109

Opening weekend reception following the performance on Saturday, December 7th, 2002.

Stefanie Petersen, Stage Manager
Alex Bartenieff, Lighting Designer
Mark Marcante, Set Designer

About the Playwright:
Bina Sharif is an award-winning playwright, actress and director.  Democracy in Islam is her 20th play.  Her plays have been produced in USA, Pakistan, Germany, Zurich, Edinburgh, Brazil and England.  Her last one-woman play, AFGHAN WOMAN, a response  to 9/11 was produced in January 2002 at TNC and was highly acclaimed then toured USA, including Hawaii, Pakistan and Manchester, England.  In Manchester, the play was hailed "most beautiful piece of theatre", "unspeakably graceful", "unforgettably haunting", "brilliantly acted" and "superb writing with wit, humor, grief, joy and terror."  Originally from Islamabad, Pakistan, Bina lives in New York City, where Theater for the New City (TNC) produced 17 of her plays including the highly acclaimed production of "My Ancestor's House" a full length play, "Accusation" and "Afghan Woman".  The Playground in London produced workshops of "Love is a Stranger in a Windowless Room" and "1000 Hours of Love" (about the British Raj).  Mabou Mines commissioned her to write and act in her one-woman play, "Sleeping with Horses", which toured Toronto, Zurich, Brazil and Germany.  She is a Joseph Jefferson Award Nominee actress from Chicago's Goodman Theatre, received the Best Performance Award at the Gay & Lesbian Theatre Festival, is a five times Jerome Foundation recipient and is the recipient of the NY Council of the Arts grant for her plays "Fire" and "Stars of War."  Bina is an MD and has a Masters degree in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University.  She doesn't practice medicine, "...a mistake...like many others made innocently."

Excerpts from Democracy in Islam were presented in June 2002 at the East-West Center in Hawaii, in a theatre workshop at TNC as a work-in-progress and at SALAAM 3rd Mondays in the Fall 2002.

This production was made possible in part by support from the Jerome Foundation and the New York State Council on the Arts.  "Democracy in Islam" is part of TNC's Emerging Playwright's Program - AEA Code.
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SALAAM is a not-for-profit professional theatre company celebrating South Asian American artistic excellence through creative risk-taking and experimentation that challenges all boundaries, connects all peoples and links all the arts.

Geeta Citygirl, Artistic Director
SALAAM  (South Asian League of Artists in AMerica)
http://www.SALAAMtheatre.org