playbill vip

NOTES FROM THE PLAYWRIGHTS

Sharum is an experience that needed to be staged in order to represent the everyday internal and external struggles that Muslims fight through behind closed doors. This play is my love letter to my community - a story for and by Muslim Americans. It's also my fight with my community -  a shout at the uncles and aunties, and mulvis, and imaams, and ammis and abus, who don't recognize their children for who they are; a mix of two cultures. I'm also coming at all the young 1st generation Muslim kids who don't recgonize their parents' hard work and sacrifices; don't be a dickhead. 

- Mohammad Murtaza

This production is a love letter to every haram auntie, uncle, sibling, cousin, and family friend who stops showing up to the mosque during Eid. Shame manifests in ways beyond the jeering eyes of gossiping folks at the mosque. It can be internal, external, presented as protection, concern, and sometimes love. Muslims are constantly forced to navigate life and identity though shame from both Islamophobia as well as community stigma that comes with their other intersecting identities. SHARUM not only addresses various perspectives of what it means to be Muslim, but how there isn't a "right" way to do right by those around you. 

- Dena Igusti

NOTES FROM THE DIRECTOR

The theater has always been a place where people come to see stories about their lives or the lives that they wish they could live. So often in our theater cannon do we not see stories of Muslim Americans depicted. This production offers a perspective into the conflicts that arise as generations and cultural values clash. It is a story about love and family and the lessons we learn from them.

- Ray Jordan Achan