By Salama Almahri<\/p>\n\n\n\n
UNIVERSITY CITY, SHARJAH \u2013 To be presented Nov. 7-11, A Museum in Baghdad<\/em> is the first play at the American University of Sharjah to depict \u201ctwo different eras at the same time\u201d according to its director, Performing Arts Program visiting lecturer Abishek Nair.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Interviewed earlier this semester, Nair said that the bilingual aspect of the performance \u2013 Arabic and English \u2013 makes it \u201cmore truthful\u201d and the poetry of the Arabic language as it is used in the play adds to the production\u2019s experience. He added that the play, written by Hannah Khalil, a Palestinian-Irish playwright who grew up in Dubai and is currently based in the UK, features \u201ctimeless characters.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n The play, he noted, also discusses \u201cidentity and holding on to a culture\u201d as an Iraqi; the effects of European (specifically British) imperialism in the Middle East; the legacy of Gertrude Bell in the nation building process; and the history of the Iraqi National Museum. It also questions whether the cultural artifacts or the lives of everyday people in Iraq are of value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n MCM student Aleen Anderias plays the role of Ghalia Hussein, the director of the eponymous museum. According to Anderias, the character \u2013 who figures in portions of the play set in 2006 \u2013 conveys a spectrum of emotions.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Auditions for A Museum in Baghdad<\/em> began in August, and Anderias said that rehearsals have been \u201ceasy to follow through\u201d but acknowledged she is still \u201cadjusting to the space and getting into character.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Anderias said that as an Armenian-Iraqi she is honored to act in the performance as it brings her back to \u201cwhat being Iraqi means.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Nair, A Museum in Baghdad<\/em> will run for a total of five shows. There are nine students in the cast, with more involved in stage management and with costumes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Salama Almahri UNIVERSITY CITY, SHARJAH \u2013 To be presented Nov. 7-11, A Museum in Baghdad is the first play at the American University of Sharjah to depict \u201ctwo different eras at the same time\u201d according to its director, Performing Arts Program visiting lecturer Abishek Nair.\u00a0 Interviewed earlier this semester, Nair said that the bilingual […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4719,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[22,33,30],"class_list":{"0":"post-4718","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-campus-news","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-aus","10":"tag-cas"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdcmediahub.aus.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdcmediahub.aus.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdcmediahub.aus.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdcmediahub.aus.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdcmediahub.aus.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mdcmediahub.aus.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdcmediahub.aus.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mdcmediahub.aus.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdcmediahub.aus.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mdcmediahub.aus.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}