Layla and Majnun
2006
2006
2006
2006
2006
2006
2007
The New Theater at Yale
New Haven, CT
2006
by Nastaran Ahmadi
directed by May Adrales
scenic design by Rumiko Ishii
costume design by Amanda Walker
lighting design by Burke Brown
sound design by Sharath Patel
Layla, a young Iranian-American living in Southern California, cares for her speechless father in an empty apartment in the weeks after the 9/11 attacks. Here, Layla reads de Tocqueville, wears a gas mask, and is visited by Majnun, a character from an Iranian folktale, while she struggles to identify a heritage that she has never truly known. Can she be an American and an Iranian, or does she have to choose?