Photo Flash: First Look at THE RETURN at Mosaic Theater's Voices From a Changing Middle East Festival

The Return is a U.S. premiere, co-written by Palestinian-American playwright and performer Hanna Eady (who performed in Motti Lerner's The Admission, both in DC and Israel), and Seattle-based playwright Edward Mast. The show, staged by director John Vreeke, is a gripping mystery set in an auto repair shop in the beachside Israeli town, Herzliya. Ahmad Kamal plays Him, and Alyssa Wilmoth Keegan plays Her-two mysterious individuals, reuniting for the first time in years. In time their names are revealed, as is their entangled romantic past, and the reason why deception and betrayal wound up leading to imprisonment and a subsequent identity makeover. Now the two attempts to reckon with their mistake and see whether a future friendship is even possible.

Check out photos from the show below!

"Stories don't become global because they're generic," says The Return director John Vreeke. "The global happens because of the specific. And so the question for us: Is specificity of geography a necessary asset or hindrance in making this universal love and betrayal story relevant to us as Americans? We have the opportunity here to turn this back on our DC audience: How do we create a dynamic through the setting, and the experience of the performance space in making the audience implicated, uncomfortable, perhaps even forcing them to take sides?"

THE RETURN
By Hanna Eady and Edward Mast? | Directed by John Vreeke
Part II of Voices From a Changing Middle East Festival
Produced by Mosaic Theater Company of DC
Playing at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, Lang Theatre
Through July 2, 2017

Photo credit: Stan Barouh

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