Interview: Adil Mansoor of AMM(I)GONE at The Theater Offensive

About two years ago, theatre artist and educator Adil Mansoor sat down at his mother's dining room table to record discussions with her about Sophocles' Antigone through an intergenerational Muslim lens with the hopes of generating a pseudo-adaptation of the text. A few days ago, I was greeted by his Lego doppelgänger on Zoom to talk about Amm(i)gone, the workshop of the theatrical piece stemming from those recordings which is currently being produced by The Theatre Offensive and Kelly Strayhorn Theater through the New Play Network. When the Lego image cut away, I was met with the bespectacled face of a fellow virgo, testing his microphone and smiling, replenished in his ability to focus on his artistic work while the capable folks at TTO maneuver the administrative specifics.

"I believe I have eight hours of recordings based on just one scene of Sophocles," Mansoor explained from his Pittsburgh home. But even the preliminary discussions about Antigone's decision to bury her brother within the play set the mother/son duo off on tangents about values which exposed contradictions. Mansoor highlighted the way that Antigone's actions are "feminist, revolutionary, and anti-establishment", but also argued that, in defying Creon, she is "prioritizing the after-life over the wellbeing of the living." In discussing the inciting incident of the text, he noted the similarities he shares with his mother, but dually felt the ways they differ in their core beliefs and priorities. He became keenly aware, he recalled, that both of them would have buried the corpse despite the consequences, but the impetus to do so would come from entirely discrepant sets of core beliefs.

Admittedly, Amm(i)gone may no longer be a fitting title for the piece, which Mansoor says is unlike performing a script and emulates the fluidity of presenting a lecture, but the title serves to mark how the process was initiated. "There is no adapting of Antigone, but my mom and I are learning from Antigone." He analyzed that in "profession and spirit" he is a teacher, thus the audience-informed delivery makes sense for him.

Mansoor described a "life-changing" evening of theatre he witnessed which "shook(his) sense of body, Earth, and canon". occasion by Isabel Lewis at Performance Space New York showed him what it could look like for an artist of color to approach the western canon in an accessible way, as Lewis DJ'ed, shared gourmet ice cream, and sprayed engineered scents which illuminated Aristotle's treatise on love. "It felt live. It was like the best class you've ever been to because you really felt engaged in that room. It was so simple but the comfort in that space was altogether transformative. She set a model for me of how teaching can be art."

Even before restrictions on gathering were in place, Amm(i)gone invited audiences to "witness Mansoor's desktop". He explained, "There are so many versions of me. In this field especially we have so many avatars, many of which we create and control. But there are also avatars out there we do not have agency over." By inviting audiences to listen to recordings and engage with G-Suite correspondence, the piece explores the ways stories are curated in the digital sphere. Because the performance already existed with elements of conversation through electronic communication, the Zoom platform has enlivened a level of subtlety which was otherwise elusive in a solo show. Additionally, Mansoor feels grateful for the universality of the virtual process, sharing that the artists currently involved on this work are located all over the continent, but are all members of the Queer community. "Creating over zoom has made many kinds of collaboration possible without the constraints of geography and budgets, allowing Mansoor to prioritize intersecting lived experiences when putting together the Amm(i)gone team. I'm going to keep that desire with me forever."

As TTO's website explains, "In Amm(i)gone, creator and performer Adil Mansoor explores queerness, the afterlife, and obligation using canonical texts, teachings from the Quran, and audio conversations between him and his mother. Since discovering his queerness, Mansoor's mother has turned towards her faith in an attempt to save her son in the afterlife. In an effort towards healing, Mansoor has invited his mother to join him as dramaturg and co-conspirator. In reading, viewing and discussing various adaptations of the source play, together they mine Greek tragedy, Islamic traditions, and their own memories to create an original performance locating love across faith. Can prayer substantiate care? Can care manifest as artistic methodology and inquiry? Can Mansoor and his mother contend with Antigone's fate?"

Audiences can RSVP to see the virtual work-in-progress showing on March 20, 2021 here.

More information about the showing can be found here.

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