Screen Shot 2025 01 22 at 7.47.35 PM | Silk Road Cultural Center

Written by Alexander Attea
In Partnership with Avalanche Theatre
March 8 & 10
7:30 PM – 10:00 PM
The Little Studio,
Fine Arts Building,
410 S Michigan Ave,
Studio 732,
Chicago, IL 60605

 

Marcus Mansour, a third-generation Lebanese American, is helping his family run the annual Lebanese Festival at his Maronite Catholic church in a rapidly changing Buffalo, NY. The problem is, he's feeling disconnected from his family and community. His sister is embroiled in a toxic relationship. His dad announced that he's remarrying. And worst of all, his grandmother won't share the family's treasured recipes. When the new parish priest asks him to run the festival, Marcus seizes the opportunity to gain a deeper connection to his family and roots. Then a surprise blizzard hits.

 

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Shahadat | Silk Road Cultural Center


Image of Yasmine El Baramawy, drawn by Salma El Tarzi

Shahadat

Written by Fouad Teymour
Adapted from Dr. Manal Hamzeh's research
In Partnership with New Mexico State University & International Voices Project

November 4, 2024
6:00 PM

Performance Venue:

Instituto Cervantes of Chicago
31 W Ohio St, Chicago, IL

Free and Open to the Public
The performance will be followed by a talkback and reception.

Based on Dr. Manal Hamzeh’s scholarship, Shahadat is an interdisciplinary theatre project based on the testimonies of three Egyptian women who experienced state-sponsored sexual violence during the Egyptian Revolution of 2011. This project is rooted in Arab feminist methodologies and will challenge patriarchal oppression and its “usefulness” to the Egyptian state, while centering the stories of three incredibly brave activists in their pursuit of justice.

 

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road less traveled | Silk Road Cultural Center

Written by Lyra Nalan

Conceived by Jamil Khoury

In Partnership with Peacedale Global Arts

 

Road Less Traveled is an evolving live theatre piece, conceived by Jamil Khoury and written by Lyra Nalan, that parallels Robert Frost’s iconic poem, “The Road Not Taken” (1915) with the extraordinary life of Chinese American trailblazer Tye Leung Schulze (1887-1972). The poem provides a fascinating framework for mapping Tye’s life choices and the legacy she left behind. Nalan’s experience as a Chinese immigrant storyteller offers a unique window into America’s ongoing conversations about choice, individualism, and freedom through a creative imagining of Tye Leung Schulze’s road less traveled.

eve bigger apple | Silk Road Cultural Center

Written by George Abraham and Fargo Nissim Tbakhi

 

In Partnership with Arab American National Museum, Mizna, and National Performance Network

 

EVE is a collaborative performance project which deconstructs John Milton’s Paradise Lost, and the biblical Adam & Eve story, through the lens of Palestinian liberation. Using puppetry, movement, poetry, and song, EVE queers, disrupts, re-imagines, and stitches together multiple timelines: from pre-Adamic origin stories to Milton’s life to the existential and lonely spaces of the Palestinian diaspora. At a juncture where Ars Poetica meets myth, EVE links seemingly disparate histories to a more hopeful and vibrant sense of future and homeland.

 

Queer Palestinian American Co-Creators, George Abraham and Fargo Nissim Tbakhi, first workshopped a performance of EVE at the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Michigan in 2021. George and Fargo are continuing to develop the piece with the goal of presenting a revised version of EVE as part of a collaboration with the Arab American National Museum, Mizna, National Performance Network, and Silk Road Cultural Center.

Christmas Mubarak tells the stories of Jesus and Mary as they appear in Islamic scripture, commentary, and tradition. In exploring the lives of history’s two most famous Galilean Jews, Christmas Mubarak situates Islam within a familiar Abrahamic context and dismantles the othering of Muslim beliefs. The piece draws parallels and distinctions between Islamic and Christian theologies through a beautiful coupling of images and motifs. Our vision for this project is to build a framework for greater Christian - Muslim collaboration.

Christmas Mubarak was conceived by Malik Gillani and Jamil Khoury. In 2018, Silk Road Rising produced a successful two-week workshop production of the piece that was adapted and directed by Corey Pond.

The art of Aphasia | Silk Road Cultural Center

Written by Malik Gillani and Jamil Khoury

 

In Partnership with Texas Tech University’s Stroke and Aphasia Recovery (STAR) program at Texas Tech University’s Health Sciences Center and the J.T. & Margaret Talkington College of Visual and Performing Arts at TTU

 

In 2019, Silk Road Cultural Center Founding Executive Director, Malik Gillani, suffered a stroke that resulted in aphasia (a language disorder) and apraxia of speech (a speech disorder). Silk Road Cultural Center has since made a commitment to generating awareness around these little-known yet common conditions, and to showcase Silk Road experiences within stroke recovery discourse.

 

Silk Road Cultural Center is developing The Art of Aphasia, a live theatre production that centers Malik’s aphasia journey and his relentless determination to regain his voice. Amplifying the very intersectional story a disabled, Muslim, queer, immigrant, person of color is critical to expanding representation around neurodiversity and disability justice.

 

This project is supported by a grant from the MAP Fund.

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