“The Domestic Crusaders”: Muslim American Play Premiering at UC BERKELEY [ARPIL 10-11]

The Domestic Crusaders, my play about a Muslim American family is coming for a showcase April 10-11 at UC BERKELEY after premiering in NYC this fall.

Here’s Toni Morrison’s review blurb:

“This play is brilliant. Moving. Shapely. Clever. Funny. And the cast is amazing!”
— Toni Morrison, Nobel Prize winning author

TICKET AND EVENT INFORMATION HERE: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/99893

APRIL 10 -11: UC BERKELEY, DURHAM THEATER. $10

“The Domestic Crusaders” by Wajahat Ali is an authentic, revelatory, no-holds barred depiction of a contemporary Pakistani-American Muslim family. In this post 9-11 world, humor, tensions and sparks fly among three generations of family members culminating in an intense family battle. Each “crusader” struggles to assert and impose their respective voice, while trying to maintain and understand the unifying thread that makes them part of the same family.

This fully staged reading is directed by Carla Blank and co-produced by the Before Columbus Foundation. It features the widely acclaimed New York City cast, fresh from their recent sold-out five week run at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe: Adeel Ahmed, Kamran Khan, Imran Javaid, Monisha Shiva, Nidhi Singh and Abbas Zaidi.

This event is made possible through the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, the Center for South Asia Studies, and the Center for Southeast Asia Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, along with funding support from the Social Science Research Council.

What the critics are saying about The Domestic Crusaders:

“Wajahat Ali is a major new voice in American literature. His play is to Muslim American theater what A Raisin in the Sun is to African American theater.” — Pulitzer Prize nominated author Mitch Berman
	“The Domestic Crusaders is exactly the sort of theater we need today. The gulf that separates cultures must be bridged and Art is one of our best hopes. I’ll be supporting this all the way – please join me and Wajahat in building this bridge!” — Emma Thompson, Academy Award winning actress and screenwriter
“Domestic Crusaders” should be ranked with family dramas written by Tennessee Williams and Eugene O’Neil. [Ali] has a magnificent ear for dialogue. He’s right up there with the best, in terms of family drama. … A major new voice.” — MacArthur Genius, Pulitzer Prize nominated author Ishmael Reed
	“The Domestic Crusaders is fast, funny, whip-smart and both constantly surprising and deeply edifying. If you see only one irreverent, hilarious, profound, furious and big-hearted play about a Pakistani-American family living in a post-9-11 world, make it this one.” — Dave Eggers, Pulitzer Prize nominated author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and author of “Zeitoun”

NOTE: No one under 8 years old will be admitted.