Silk Road Rising Presents OH MY SWEET LAND Readings

This weekend at Silk Road Rising patrons can hear some stories from Syrian refugees with staged readings of Amir Nizar Zuabi's OH MY SWEET LAND. Zuabi has written a beautiful play that puts the human back into this urgent story.

Many people have asked how they can help Syrian refugees. Creating awareness, and being aware, being able to speak about the situation knowledgeably to others, is one way of helping out. Theatre helps us gain such awareness, not just intellectually, but emotionally and spiritually as well.

Our post-show talkbacks will include Co-Founder and CEO of the Karam Foundation Lina Sergie Attar, director Anna C. Bahow, actor Amy J. Carle, and me, all of us Syrian Americans!

Join us this weekend, January 30 and 31, for this poignant story of loss, love and survival. Resettling Syrian Refugees
According to the Karam Foundation, one million civilians are trapped, without food or aid, throughout Syria. Eleven million Syrians, constituting one half of Syria's population, are displaced either internally or externally.

A Syrian family resettled in Aurora, Illinois, makes up 5 of the 2,647 Syrian refugees resettled in the U.S. What's their story? How difficult is it for Syrian refugees to be admitted into the U.S.? What is life like for those unable to relocate?

Oh My Sweet Land
January 30-31, 2016

Written by Amir Nizar Zuabi - Conceived by Corrine Jaber
Performed by Amy J. Carle - Directed by Anna C. Bahow They call it a civil war
but there is nothing civil about it
nothing civil at all.

They came from Damascus, from Aleppo, from Banias, where the bombs fall day and night and the wounded children look like sleeping angels. Now they live in camps and abandoned buildings in Lebanon and Jordan, amongst other places, as Syria becomes a haunting memory.

A Syrian woman prepares kibbeh in her kitchen, while recounting tales of her vanished lover. Her stories bring to life an ancient land torn apart by a cruel war. Oh My Sweet Land is written by Amir Nizar Zuabi, rising star of the Palestinian theatre.