"People in war zones hang out. They smoke; they gossip. They make up funny dances. To forget this is to deny the real people in these dire situations their humanity and to risk seeing them only through the eyes of charity-helpless, desperate, and without pride. Them, the 2019 play by Samah Sabawi, opens promisingly with a down-to-earth scene: Three young men-two with rifles-stand at a makeshift check point and shoot the shit."
"Mohamed (Trevor Tarantino) holds his rifle securely for about half the time; Majid (Manny Meza) never does, but it works for their characters as two armed resistance fighters in their unnamed hometown. The third man is Omar (Akash Dhruva), a young father, who claims that he could defend his home-if it were really necessary-even as his friends and family tease him for being unable to kill a lamb for dinner."
A scene opens with three young men at a makeshift checkpoint engaging in casual behaviors: smoking, gossiping, and joking while folk horns, drums, and accordion play. Two of the men carry rifles and wear ballistic vests improperly, signaling inexperience; one holds his rifle intermittently while the other never secures his weapon. The third man, a young father, claims he could defend his home but is teased for being unable to kill a lamb. The opening sequence's naturalism contrasts with subsequent ninety minutes of increasing melodrama and heavy-handed allegory. College-level acting and university-led direction shape a small-studio co-production staging.
Read at Portland Mercury
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