Golden Thread Productions, the first American theatre company devoted to the Middle East, launches its 2018 season with the return of Amir Nizar Zuabi's Oh My Sweet Land, a tour-de-force solo show based on interviews with Syrian refugees in Jordan, for an extended run. Instead of staging the play in a theater, Golden Thread presents the show in home and community kitchens around the Bay Area with performances followed by food-sharing and community conversations. Directed by Founding Artistic Director Torange Yeghiazarian and starring Golden Thread favorite Nora el Samahy, Oh My Sweet Land's 2017 run received the highest rating from the San Francisco Chronicle and was hailed as "extraordinary... El Samahy's storytelling is as riveting as her cooking." Sweet Land performs on March 1-30, 2018 at venues including private homes, restaurants, and community kitchen spaces with most venues having as few as 25 seats. Like the 2017 tour, this run is expected to sell out quickly. For tickets ($45-$60) and more information on the production, please visit goldenthread.org. Golden Thread has partnered with the International Rescue Committee Oakland to raise awareness about their resettlement services in the Bay Area and the ways we all can help.
In the play, a woman of mixed Syrian-German heritage recalls her encounter with Ashraf, a Syrian man in Paris, all the while preparing kibbeh, a Syrian delicacy. When he disappears, she goes on an arduous journey in search of him that leads to stirring conversations with some of the two-million Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan. One part detective story, one part a woman's reckoning with her heritage, Oh My Sweet Land offers an intimate and nuanced perspective on the conflict in Syria and highlights the resilience of the Syrian people.
Director Torange Yeghiazarian says: "Oh My Sweet Land is a powerful example of live theatre's ability to transform a distant tragedy into a familiar personal story; to shift audience reaction from fear and pity for refugees to empathy and awe; and to facilitate intimate and candid conversations. This production reflects the evolution of Golden Thread's efforts to build community and shift the narrative about the Middle East.." Playwright Amir Nizar Zuabi says of his experience of working on the play: "We met people in the harshest moments of their life, yet still they were generous, full of grace, hope, and even humor. This piece is inspired by their stories but more than anything it is inspired by their spirit - that elastic rubber-like ability man has to adapt and to weather the storm."
Golden Thread thanks California Arts Council, Kenneth Rainin Foundation, and Sam Mazza Foundation for their generous support of Oh My Sweet Land.
