Review: NOT EXACTLY A NUN at Story District (at Woolly Mammoth)

When 5 year old Yasmin Elhady arrived in America around 1990 with her Libyan and Egyptian Muslim parents, a Catholic charity staffed by nuns helped the family settle in. Elhady had seen plenty of women wearing similar clothing as a toddler in Egypt, so she felt right at home. By the time she was 8, she tells the audience in this 90-minute autobiographical one-woman show, she was ready to dress that way too (as she does now). It's actually pretty funny how horrified her parents were, but adult Elhady does not judge them; she's got cruel, ignorant, stupid American children to judge instead, and they deserve it. Her stories of how the reaction of her fellow 8 year olds in an Alabama grade school shaped (and strengthened) her character are what make Not Exactly a Nun such an interesting evening of theatre (yes, it got worse when she was in high school on September 11, 2001). So does the irony of the fact that here in the US, Elhady can freely wear her hijab while in Iran, Muslim women who would prefer a different choice can be jailed and sometimes killed if they don't wear one.

Elhady tells many light-hearted stories too. Some concern her whole family's assimilation to American ways. Her imitation of her Libyan father is a hoot, and her descriptions of her imposing Egyptian mother can most politely be characterized as universal. And the autobiography continues into Elhady's graduate education, adulthood, and motherhood. If you've never gotten to know a Muslim lady, now's your chance: Elhady is very much worth knowing.

Jeffrey Brady's projections contribute appropriate illustrations of some of Elhady's storytelling. Woolly's black (well, black and greyish) box space is comfortable enough and certainly suitable for such an intimate evening. No sound design is needed, and Elhady's got a great voice. But the room is not fully her friend. Sometimes the ends of lines disappear into concrete walls that reverb the audience's laughter over her natural voice.

“It's hard,” says Elhady, “to pretend you don't care what people think. . . but [she reminds her son] everybody's weird.” Amen to that, and salam alaikum.

Not Exactly a Nun, directed by Ryan Cunningham, runs three more times @ 7 PM on October 2, 3, and 4 at Woolly Mammoth Theatre, 641 D St. NW, WDC.

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