A play about martyrdom in the second intifada that has been widely praised is playing to sold-out audiences on campuses across the country and you should check it out if you get a chance. The show is called There Is a Field, and the playwright is the prolific activist/author Jen Marlowe. Marlowe did extensive reporting on the case of Aseel Asleh, 17, killed in October 2000; and this dramatic work featuring a diverse cast of actors and dealing with state violence generally is the result.
There Is A Field is a story of how a Palestinian family journeys through grief after their young son, Aseel, is killed by Israeli police forces. While offering an intimate view into the racism and violence faced by Palestinian citizens of Israel, the play transcends any particular time or place to reflect on oppressions in Israel/Palestine, the United States, and around the world.
Here’s a detailed description of the work:
As the Second Intifada erupted in the West Bank and Gaza, demonstrations also began in Palestinian villages and towns inside Israel. In October 2000, Israeli forces killed thirteen unarmed Palestinians in these demonstrations.
The youngest of those killed was a 17-year old boy named Aseel Asleh. Aseel was shot point blank in the neck by Israeli police while nonviolently demonstrating outside his village.
There Is A Field is a documentary-style play about Aseel’s life and his killing, told from the perspective of his older sister, Nardeen. Through Nardeen’s struggle to cope with the murder of her brother, the play also addresses the larger struggle facing Palestinians inside Israel
Based on interviews and primary sources collected over 15 years, the play offers a uniquely personal lens for understanding inequality as the root of state violence and impunity. Audiences throughout the United States will find particular resonance with themes raised by Aseel’s life and murder, and post-play discussions and actions will create space to further explore connections and build solidarity across universal struggles for liberation and equality.
Here is the forthcoming schedule for the Land Day tour of the show, in Atlanta, elsewhere in Georgia, then the St. Louis/Ferguson area, and winding up in New York.
Mon April 4 @ 7:00 pm: Atlanta, GA
Emory University
Emory Center for Ethics
1531 Dickey Drive. Atlanta, Georgia 30322
(Visitor parking info: 29 Eagle Row, Atlanta , Georgia 30322)
Sponsored by Students for Justice in Palestine and the Emory Center for Ethics
Co-sponsored by Candler Social Concerns Network
Open to the public. Suggested donation of $10-$20; no one turned away
Contact: Dina Bashar MasriTues April 5 @ 7:00 pm: Atlanta, GA
The AUC (Spelman College, Morehouse College and Clark Atlanta University)
Sale Hall, Morehouse College
Sponsored by: ACTS (Actively Changing Tomorrow through Service)
Open to the public. Suggested donation $1-$20
Contact :acts.service@gmail.comWed April 6 @ 6:00 pm: Athens, GA
University of Georgia
Arena Theatre
Fine Arts Bldg, 255 Baldwin St, Athens, GA 30605
Osama Mor: 718-644-6606, osama.elmor@gmail.com
Sponsored by: Athens for Justice in PalestineFri April 8 @ 7:00 pm: St Louis, MO
Washington University in St Louis
1 Brookings Dr, St. Louis, MO 63130
McMillan Hall
Campus Map: (#70 on the map)
Sponsored by: Students for Justice in Palestine
Co-sponsored by: Social Justice Center (SJC)
Post play discussion hosted by Adalah
Contact: Stephanie AriaSun April 10 @ 3:00 pm: St Louis/Ferguson, MO
Community performance
2720 Cherokee, St. Louis, Missouri 63118
Sponsored by Hands Up United and St Louis Palestine Solidarity CommitteeWed, April 13 @ 7:00 pm: NYC
Soho Playhouse
15 Vandam, between Varick Street and Sixth Avenue
Sponsored by: Columbia University Center for Palestine Studies, African American Policy Forum, Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies
RSVP hereThurs, April 14 @ 7:00 pm: NYC
Soho Playhouse
15 Vandam, between Varick Street and Sixth Avenue
Sponsored by: Columbia University Center for Palestine Studies, African American Policy Forum, Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies
RSVP here
Wow, this play will be showing in New York. Maybe there is hope for the previously censored play “The Siege”.
https://mondoweiss.mystagingwebsite.com/2016/02/public-theater-backed-out-of-oral-agreement-to-put-on-the-siege/
Hope this play comes to Princeton NJ.
You may notice that nobody can actually say he was killed by the IDF because it’s simply not known. The Or commission was not allowed by the family to exhume the body for autopsy to analyse the bullet wounds so this case remains a mystery.
Maybe the play is a murder mystery?