The Semitic Root's Immersive Murdery Mystery THE STRANGEST Coming to NYC

The Strangest invites audiences into an immersive theatrical experience in which they enter a traditional Arab storytelling café, where for centuries masters of the oral tradition wove tales of intrigue.

The Strangest is an absurdist murder mystery loosely inspired by the unnamed Arab killed in Albert Camus' classic novel, The Stranger. Experience French Algiers on the brink of revolution, and witness three Arab brothers vie for the love of the same woman. Their bitter rivalry ends only when one is gunned down by a French stranger. Written by Betty Shamieh ( The Black Eyed, Roar, Fit for a Queen) and directed by May Adrales (Vietgone, Luce).

French Algeria was a hybrid of Eastern and Western cultures that fascinated some of the most important writers and artists of the twentieth century, including Albert Camus, Jean Genet, and Jean-Paul Sartre. In 1848, Algeria was made part of France. It was the first colonization of an Arab country since the Crusades, and hundreds of thousands of Europeans immigrated and settled there. The Algerian War for Independence began over a hundred years later in 1954. The Strangest evokes that cultural hybridity, mixing oral Arab storytelling techniques with Western theatrical practices of multi-character scenes in a way that illuminates the strengths and similarities of both those performance traditions.

In 2011, writer Betty Shamieh traveled to Aleppo, Syria to conduct research on storytelling cafes for The Strangest. Syria was chosen rather than Algeria not only because Shamieh understood the Levantine dialect, but also because it ironically was deemed safer and less likely to be touched by the events of the Arab Spring. She and her team arrived in Aleppo during the week when the first anti-government protests began. Not only were they able to document these legendary storytelling sites that are no longer standing, or have ceased to be cultural centers for the first time in centuries, but also a society on the verge of civil war and self-destruction.

The Strangest is a truly singular theatrical event that invites audiences to experience the centuries old live performance tradition of Arabic storytelling that predates Shakespeare, and to enter into a world that most New Yorkers might otherwise never be able to access, particularly at this time where it is increasingly dangerous for Americans to travel to the Middle East and much more difficult for Arab artists to perform in America.

"As a child of Arab immigrants who became an American playwright, I was always fascinated by the idea of Middle Eastern storytelling cafes, where a person could grab a cup of joe and listen to the live performances of the best storytellers in that community retelling fables and myths from The Arabian Nights. It never occurred to me that the cafes were segregated all-male spaces. I wanted to infiltrate these storytelling cafes. I had been commissioned to write a stage adaptation of The Stranger andupon revisiting Camus' text; I realized adapting a cerebral novel wasn't my thing. I also realized I had missed that the novel is about more than a weird narrator who shot a man he didn't know without feeling remorse, or a representation of an abstract concept called Existentialism. At its core, it is about a colonist killing a native in a deeply racist environment, where desensitization of self and dehumanization of others are necessary ingredients for survival. Thus, the concept for The Strangest was born. I wanted to tell the other side of the story, evoking the wildness of the world that was French Algiers" said playwright, Betty Shamieh.

The company of The Strangest is Jacqueline Antaramian (as Umm; Homeland, Madam Secretary), Andrew Guilarte (as Nemo; The Invisible Hand (Kansas City Repertory Theatre)), Juri Henly-Cohn (as Nader; Inventing Avi), Roxanna Hope Radja (as Layali; Frost/Nixon; After the Fall (Broadway)), Alok Tewari (as Abu; The Band's Visit (Atlantic Theater) ; Awake and Sing! (Public/NAATCO), and Brendan Titley (as Gun; MacBeth (Broadway); As You Like It (Public Theater)).

Under the direction of May Adrales, The Strangest will feature Scenic Design by Daniel Zimmerman, Costume Design by Becky Bodurtha, Lighting Design by AaRon Porter, and New Music & Sound Design by Nathan A. Roberts & Charles Coes. The production manager is Jay Sterkel and the stage manager is Megan Sprowls.

This production of The Strangest is produced by Semitic Root with creative producer Allison Bressi, Executive ProducerParadox Productions NY, LLC, and general managed by Kaitlin Boland.

Regular Price: $25; Premium: $45 (Includes a reserved seat and a signed program). To purchase: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2822899. Performances of The Strangest take place at The Fourth Street Theatre - 83 East Fourth St. (between Bowery and Second Ave), New York, NY 10003.

About Betty Shamieh - Playwright
Betty Shamieh is the author of fifteen plays. Shamieh was awarded a 2016 Guggenheim Fellowship in Drama and Performance Art. Her off-Broadway premieres are The Black Eyed (New York Theatre Workshop, Director: Sam Gold), and Roar (The New Group, Director Marion McClinton). Roar is currently being taught at universities throughout the United States. Fit for a Queen had its world premiere at the Classical Theatre of Harlem in 2016. The Machine (Director: Marisa Tomei) was produced by Naked Angels at the Duke Theatre. Her European productions in translation include Again and Against (Playhouse Theater, Stockholm), The Black Eyed (Fournos Theatre, Athens), and Territories (a co-production of the Landes Theatre and the 2009 European Union Capital of Culture Festival). A graduate of Harvard College and the Yale School of Drama, she was selected as a Clifton Visiting Artist at Harvard College and a Playwriting Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies. Shamieh was named a UNESCO Young Artist for Intercultural Dialogue in 2011. Her works have been translated into seven languages. www.bettyshamieh.com

About May Adrales - Director
May Adrales has helmed several world premieres including Qui Nguyen's Vietgone (Manhattan Theatre Club, South Coast Rep, Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Seattle Rep); JC Lee's Luce (LCT3); Katori Hall's Whaddablooddclot!!! (Williamstown Theater Festival); A. Rey Pamatmat's Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them (Actors Theatre of Louisville ) and after all the terrible things I do (Milwaukee Rep) ; Thomas Bradshaw's Mary (The Goodman Theatre) and The Bereaved (Partial Comfort Productions); In This House (Two River Theater Company); Richard Dresser's Trouble Cometh (SF Playhouse); Qui Nguyen's Five Days 'Til Saturday (NYU Tisch) and Tommy Smith's The Wife (Access Theater) . She directed David Henry Hwang's The Dance and the Railroad at Signature Theater; Kimber Lee's Tokyo Fish Story (Old Globe); Stefanie Zadravec's The Electric Baby (Two River); Katori Hall's The Mountaintop (Milwaukee Rep); Chinglish (Portland Center Stage, Syracuse Stage); In the Next Room (Syracuse Stage); and Breath and Imagination (Cleveland Playhouse). She is a former Director of On Site Programs at the Lark Play Development Center and Artistic Associate at The Public Theater. May has directed and taught at Juilliard, ART, ACT, Fordham, NYU and Bard College. May is on faculty at the Yale School of Drama and Brown/Trinity MFA program. MFA, Yale School of Drama. www.mayadrales.net

About The Semitic Root - Producer
The Semitic Root is an artistic collective of Arabs, Jews, and activists of other backgrounds based in America who are committed to creating innovative and experimental theatrical work that challenges assumptions about race, cross-cultural dialogue, and war. Its inaugural production was the off-off-Broadway production of Chocolate in Heat by Betty Shamieh and directed by Sam Gold in 2003. That production toured over twenty university theatres and was the first event in Harvard University's history to be co-sponsored by the Harvard Society of Arab Student and Hillel. The National Endowment for the Arts funded the Semitic Root's Writing the Other workshop series at the Magic Theatre, which encouraged local writers to create characters from other ethnic perspectives. Its upcoming project, currently entitled Malvolio, is a new musical that examines the idea of revenge.

Photo Credit: Stephanie Keith

To post a comment, you must register and login.