Today, Marin Theatre Company and Storykrapht announced Brilliant Mind, a groundbreaking live and interactive digital experience created and written by Egyptian-American playwright Denmo Ibrahim. Brilliant Mind performs May 11-June 6, 2021. Single tickets ($30) are on sale now at marintheatre.org or by phone through the MTC box office at 415-388-5208.
Inspired by the true stories of first-generation Americans, this bold new theatrical experience examines generational trauma, the struggle between self and family, and the weight of carrying a legacy. It is an excavation of the politics of gender in immigrant communities and the challenges ever-present between tradition and culture.
"I wanted to investigate the first-generation experience and what it means to be raised by immigrants and have one foot in two worlds-in a different way than our parents," says Ibrahim. It was this seed that inspired the concepts of layered mediums, multiple storylines and one-to-one audience engagement, all of which influence how this story is told. But then, the writer's life took a turn. "In November 2020, my father died. The last time I saw him, I was 19," confessed Ibrahim. "The events surrounding his death transformed me and my brother. As I navigated my own sense of loss with a father I didn't know, I found myself wanting to understand myself by illuminating a larger perspective. During the writing process, I interviewed many Arab-Americans, mostly from Lebanon and Palestine, who helped shape the family in Brilliant Mind. There were so many points of intersection in all of our stories that a larger narrative about the Arab-American experience emerged. One that was familiar, funny, heartbreaking, and true."
Brilliant Mind is Co-Produced by Storykrapht, an international production company disrupting live theatre in digital landscapes, and Marin Theatre Company, whose mission embraces championing new artists and innovative new theatre. The result is not just a play-it's an experience that embeds a rich family drama into a bespoke digital platform; a new space online where real-time performance blends with film, 3D worlds, text messaging, and audience agency. The result is a seamless, engaging, and new kind of live theatre.
In Storykrapht, Ibrahim teamed up with Digital and Interactive Designer, Marti Wigder Grimminck to create an experience that expands the possibilities for storytelling. "In today's world, the human experience is deeply interwoven with technology," says Grimminck. "Digital is not just about streaming. It's about providing us with different textures through which we can experience a story."
"Brilliant Mind is the next wave of storytelling, a first generation," says Ibrahim. "Which is so fitting for a project that centers on the first-generation experience. In many ways, we have all been the first-generation in some way. We were the first generation to go to college, the first generation to move away from home, the first generation to be artists, to be financially stable, to be openly gay, to say no, to tell the truth, to stand up for what we believe in. As we discover in Brilliant Mind, being the first in our generation is our inheritance. It is a beginning and an end. It is our legacy."
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
Brilliant Mind
By Denmo Ibrahim
A story about family-the ties that bind us and break us.
Co-produced by Marin Theatre Company & Storykrapht
May 11-June 6, 2021 | Originating Production
www.marintheatre.org
When Dina and Yusef learn of their estranged father's death, they step in and bury a man they never knew. Will brother and sister face their truths once family secrets come to light? Inspired by true stories of first-generation Americans, Brilliant Mind takes a hard look at generational trauma, the struggle between self and family, and the weight of carrying a legacy. It's an excavation of the politics of gender in immigrant communities and the challenges ever present between tradition and culture. This is a story of hope, of what gets lost in translation, and of what happens when we dare to love unconditionally.
In this extraordinary live and interactive digital experience, explore the family ties that bind and break us, the healing that comes through death, and the acceptance that our parents do the best they can-the rest is up to us.
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