A FIRE IN THE WEST

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis paper is to explore the ways in which my masters education was actualized in the form of putting together a 15 to 20 minute solo performance, without faculty assistance. The entire experience was an exercise in shifting objectives, re-writes, and adaptation to a limited set of technical resources (lighting, sound, etc). I had set an ultimate goal of speaking to a specific and perhaps even dissonant personal truth through the vessel of story, and believe this was achieved. The question at hand was what does it mean for the concept of the “terrorist” or the more palatable “revolutionary”, to be so fundamental to the existence and resistance of a colonized people, in my case Palestinians both in Diaspora and at home, and yet weaponized against that group by a state founded in the dogma of imperial, white supremacist, domination. The might is right ethic. Essentially, if the term “terrorist” is meted out by those with all of the power, does the term carry any real significance? In fact, is possibly worth embracing by those against whom it is intended to be wielded? Every step of the way the relationship of the performer to the audience was a primary consideration, something common to contemporary theatrical thinking. However in this particular instance I was reckoning not only with the relationship of the performer to the audience, but that of the politicized brown body in a predominantly white space, discussing the issues of the brown man in the west, an endeavor fraught with the inherent mistrust given to the brown, Arab voice in the western world.