BWW Reviews: Volatile, Discomforting DISGRACED Earns Its Pulitzer

The opening scene of Ayad Akhtar's 2013 Pulitzer-winner, Disgraced, seems innocuous enough at first glance. An attractive and apparently well-off couple is relaxing in their apartment on Manhattan's Upper East Side, with the wife sketching a portrait of her husband.

But the portrait the blonde, white woman is working on, a sketch for what will be a painting, is modeled after Diego Velazquez's portrait of Juan de Pareja, a Moor who was his slave when the Spaniard portrayed him dressed as a nobleman.

As emerging artist Emily (Gretchen Mol) draws, she describes to her husband Amir (Hari Dhillon), a successful corporate attorney of South Asian origin who loves to indulge in expensive clothing, how some of Velazquez's contemporaries may have reacted to this painting of a Moor, someone they would consider a savage who was beneath them, made to appear as their equal.

The idea of this image is what looms over the volatile and discomforting 85 minutes of exhilarating theatre.

Amir's parents were born in what is now a part of Pakistan, a fact he hides from his colleagues. Having changed his surname from Abdullah to Kapoor, to appear Hindu, he fervently rejects his Islamic upbringing, citing how his family's adherence to the Quran raised him in a manner that's inappropriate for a 21st Century American.

"The Quran is about tribal life in a seventh century desert," he insists. "That's why you have people like the Taliban. They're trying to recreate the world in the image of the one that's in the Quran."

Emily, through her outsider artist's eye, has a gentler view of Islam and has embraced her perception of the culture in works of art that are being considered for inclusion in a show at the Whitney. Amir was able to help set up her opportunity because the curator, Isaac (Josh Radnor), is married to one of his co-workers, Jory (Karen Pittman).

The shattering of Emily and Amir's reasonably idyllic world begins with a visit from the husband's nephew, Abe. Although a devout Muslim, Abe changed his name from Hussein in order to hide his religion for his own protection, a practice allowed by the Quran.Abe wants Amir to join the defense team for an imam who has been jailed on suspicion of collecting donations for Hamas, saying he needs a Muslim defending him. Amir does not want to get involved, but, to appease Emily, makes what he believes to be a token appearance on the man's behalf.

A few months later, while the Jewish Isaac and the black Jory are over for dinner, the subject of the media's perception of Amir's involvement in the imam defense leads to an alcohol-infused discussion of what it means to be a Muslim in post-9/11 America. Amir's insistence that ancient prejudices learned in childhood are hard to completely shake off includes a shocking confession; one that he's certain Isaac can relate to.

As the talk swims further and further into dangerous waters, each character contributes with their own view of racial and religious tolerance in contemporary America, and when personal relationships get involved, the verbal attacks give way to a horrific act of physical violence.

This is more of a play of ideas than one of complete reality, and, aside from the conveniently contrasting racial makeup of the characters, the plot is built on some dramatic conveniences. But director Kimberly Senior's sharp and tense production has an excellent ensemble offering intriguing portrayals of their defined types.

I'll leave it to theologians and social scientists to debate the legitimacy of Akhtar's observations, but as theatre goes, Disgraced is enthrallingly provocative.

Click here to follow Michael Dale on Twitter.