“THE DOMESTIC CRUSADERS” [www.domesticcrusaders.com]

• “Domestic Crusaders”  should be ranked with family dramas written by Tennessee Williams and Eugene O’Neil.”
  • Ishmael Reed, MacArthur Genius, Pulitzer nominated author/poet of “Mumbo Jumbo”

•   “Wajahat Ali is a major new voice in American literature. His  play is to Muslim American theatre what A Raisin in the Sun is to African American theatre.” 
  • Mitch Berman, head of  the Center for Literary Arts

•  This play could change the history of American theater, and of America itself.
  • Lawrence Swaim, In Focus Magazine.

Who are The Domestic Crusaders?

The Domestic Crusaders focuses on one day in the life of a modern Muslim Pakistani-American family of six eclectic, unique members, who convene at the family house to celebrate the twenty-first birthday of the youngest child.

With a background of 9-11 and the scapegoating of Muslim Americans, the tensions and sparks fly among the three generations, culminating in an intense family battle as each “crusaders” struggles to assert and impose their respective voices and opinions, while still attempting to maintain and understand that unifying thread that makes them part of the same family.

The three generations of the family include: the grandfather, Hakim, a retired, Pakistani army official who harbors a terrible secret; Salman, his son, a middle-aged corporate engineer trying to maintain his pride and self-respect; Khulsoom, Salman’s wife, longing for her homeland and wishing to impart her traditions, values, and morals to her American-born children; Salahuddin, the eldest child, stubbornly clinging to his ideals of success, as well as his anger and resentment towards his father; Fatima, the middle child, passionately advocating her Islamic identity, while rejecting the traditional stereotypes and biases of her mother; Ghafur, the youngest, the golden child abandoning his family’s expectations in order to discover his own path. These individuals are “The Domestic Crusaders”!

 www.domesticcrusaders.com