Arts and Culture in the Mideast

Cultural Differences Make Provocative Romance: “Pilgrims Musa and Sheri in the New World”

Egyptian-American playwright, Yussef El Guindi explores the complexities of an intercultural romance in the Bay Area premier of Pilgrims Musa and Sheri in the New World, winner of last year’s prestigious Steinberg Award for New Play from the American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA).

A romantic comedy is a departure for the multi-award winning Guindi, who is better known for his deeply contemplative political works such as Jihad Jones and the Kalashnikov Babes, Language Rooms and When the Birds Flew In, which have been staged by the San Francisco-based theater company Golden Thread Productions.

El Guindi says that he “latches on to whatever my muse or unconscious coughs up” and was inspired to write this play after hearing a late-night conversation between two people who were walking up the stairs to their apartment.

444 Days: A Tangled Web of Love, Betrayal, and Politics

Love, betrayal, espionage: together, the three make for a winning combination, especially when it’s set to the well-known 1979 Iranian Hostage Crisis story told from the rare perspective of an Iranian woman. This is the premise of Playwright and Director Torange Yeghiazarian’s new play, 444 DAYS, set to premiere this October at Golden Thread Productions in San Francisco, the only theatre in the United States solely dedicated to producing work by and about Middle Easterners.

Can anything survive decades of secrecy, broken promises, and political intrigue? That’s the question we ask when Laleh, an Iranian revolutionary, and Henry, a diplomatic attaché, meet for the first time in 25 years as Laleh’s daughter lies in a coma. The last time they spoke was when she held him hostage for 444 days at the United States Embassy in Tehran along with 52 other Americans. Through a masterful and unexpected meshing of international espionage and family secrets, Yeghiazarian weaves a narrative that is not only dramatically gripping, but also provocative as it sheds a new light on current United States-Iran relations.

Making Fashion Saucy: UAE’s S*uce Boutique Helps Local Talent Shine

Dubai, a city known for its glamour, soaring skyscrapers and magnificent malls, plays host to over a thousand shopping tourists every month. The Middle East, in general, has a strong presence of international luxury brands such as Chanel, Givenchy, Prada and Louis Vuitton. But, there are also tourists hungry for some local fashion flair. In 2004, this idea turned into a reality with the opening of S*uce Boutique.

Founder Zayan Ghandour, a fashion journalist, along with boutique partners Fatima Ghobash and Dina Salehese, realized there was something missing from the Middle Eastern fashion market; they wanted to bring quirky and edgy local high fashion to the UAE’s saturated (foreign) luxury fashion market. In addition to carrying high fashion contemporary brands such as Alexander Wang and Thakoon, the boutique stocks up and coming local fashion and lifestyle brands, making them accessible to natives and tourists alike.

One of These Things is Actually Like the Others

What Past Great Performances Can Teach Us In Dealing with Present-Day Events

Muslim-Americans. A 1950s American opera best described as “Shakespearean tragedy meets McCarthy-Era Tennessee.” The Boston Marathon. Before you begin to think that I’m having an ADHD attack, let me say this: one of these things is actually like the others.

I don’t think we need to rehash the events leading up to and following the Boston Marathon bombings. The tragedy shook me- not just because of its horrificness, but also because I used to live in Boston, and currently, I’m in the process of possibly moving back. As a city, it energizes me like no other- its culture, its history, and the intellectual stimulation it offers. The first time I ever felt like I had a small place in the span of American history was almost twelve years ago when I walked through Harvard’s Memorial Hall. And, every time I return to Boston, a certain pride overwhelms me. No matter how jaded or cynical I may feel at the time, the city always reminds me that calling myself an “American” is in fact something I can be proud of.

Reflecting the Times: Fashion Fighting Famine 2013

Last month, fashion bloggers, designers, and “it” girls from all over the world graced the front row of the 6th annual Fashion Fighting Famine fashion show, held on March 31st at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Irvine, California. It was a frenzy of fashionistas posing for photographers in their edgy outfits, or attempting to snap a picture with their favorite fashion blogger.

Dubbed the “largest fashion show for Muslim designers in the United States,” the FFF event aims to provide more than just a spectacular fashion show. Every year, the Southern California-based organization chooses a different charity to support and raise funds for. It also hosts a “Shop for a Cause” bazaar that brings together established and upcoming modest fashion labels, making these brands accessible to the public. Every purchase made at the bazaar contributes a portion to FFF’s Cause of the Year.

Fashion ComPassion Making Style a Conscious Effort

If you’ve been to your local H&M store recently, you would have noticed the promotions for H&M Conscious with the slogan “Don’t Let Fashion Go To Waste” placed around the floor. The campaign is an initiative led by the Swedish retailer to reduce the fashion industry’s environmental impact and to run its business in a manner that is “economically, socially and environmentally sustainable.” It aims to reduce the amount of textiles that end up in landfills every year by asking customers to bring them their old clothes in exchange for a discount voucher. The clothing that is collected will be sorted out to be re-worn, reused or recycled, and if these aren’t the options then the textile is used to produce energy.

The global fashion industry has been moving in the direction of increased sustainability and social consciousness in recent years. Campaigns such as TOMS’ “One For One Movement” and the eco-fashion brand EDUN founded by Bono and his wife Ali Hewson to sustain long-term jobs in third world countries have improved the fashion world’s image for being shallow and wasteful. Fashion ComPassion is one such brand that is changing the way fashion works, quite literally. It is a socially responsible fashion retailer providing a platform to brands that work directly with women in underprivileged and war-torn areas in South Asia and Africa, including the Middle East. The goal is to create jobs and provide skill training as a sustainable means to end poverty.

Argo Reviews Reveal Generational Divide Amongst Iranians

Ben Affleck's 2012 political thriller "Argo," about the 1979-1981 Iran hostage crisis, reached the streets of Tehran, Iran via the black market soon after its theatrical release in the US. The film's depiction of the historical event and its portrayal of Iranians at the time and its winning the coveted Academy Award for Best Picture, drew mixed emotions from residents of Tehran. These reactions are notably different across generations of Tehranis due to their respective familiarity with Iran at the time of the Hostage Crisis.

Sara, a 21-year-old accounting major, explains, "It all depends on how you look at the film. If you want to want to look at it from an artistic point of view, (then) it was a very beautiful film. However, because they wanted to appeal to the audience's emotions there were a lot of exaggerations. It's true that at the beginning of the Revolution, revolutionaries and the Basiji did not do good things. However, 'Argo' doesn't provide a collective image of Iran's population ... It only depicts the revolutionaries and the people that were against the Shah."

Eye Level in Iraq: Bringing the Plight of Iraqi Civilians into Sharp Focus

Though most Americans have distanced themselves from any association with the Iraq War, March 19, 2013 marks the tenth anniversary of the United States-led invasion. Perhaps the occasion provides the necessary impetus to reflect collectively on one of our country’s most misguided and tragic military exploits. Ironically, it may be only through the gritty lens of a photojournalist’s camera that we see most clearly what has been so glaringly obscured by the government — the heartbreaking consequences of war on the Iraq’s civilian population.

Eye Level in Iraq: Photographs by Kael Alford and Thorne Anderson, currently on exhibit at San Francisco’s de Young Museum, features the work of two seasoned American photojournalists who spent two years photographing the buildup and the aftermath of the Iraq War from cities such as Baghdad, Fallujah and Najaf, beginning in 2003.