WALLS: A Play for Palestine by Knoxville artist Summer Awad
A Zoom reading of a semi-autobiographical political play by Knoxville playwright Summer Awad.
WALLS: A Play for Palestine is a play written by Summer Ghasan Awad. Based on the playwright’s life, WALLS tells the story of a teenager’s complex relationship with her traditional Muslim father and her struggle to reconcile her Palestinian roots with her East Tennessee upbringing.
Although Diaspora Child clashes with her father over dating, prom, and clothing, she yearns to connect with her heritage on her own terms. As Diaspora Child reads history textbooks and learns Arabic, Mother Palestine appears to tell the story of her traumatic history.
WALLS explores the issues of immigration and diaspora, parent-child relationships, and the often forgotten history of the Palestinian people.
This Zoom reading will feature Déa Julien as Diaspora Child, Ali Andre Ali as Baba, Inji El Gammal as Mother Palestine, and Adam Hughes as Dudebro, the Aliyot, Prom Date, and the Rapist.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Summer Awad, aka “Uncensored” is a poet, playwright, and activist from Knoxville. Summer’s work focuses primarily on her Palestinian heritage, feminism, humor, and politics. Summer got her start in spoken word through Poetry Out Loud National
Recitation contest and was the 2011 POL Tennessee State Champion. Summer was named the 22016 Artist of Change by Community Shares Tennessee and was awarded a 2018 Peacemaker Award by the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance. Most recently, “Uncensored” was the 2018 Big Ears Poetry Slam Champion and was also featured in 2019 festival. This poet promises to make you laugh, ask questions, and to examine the capitalist patriarchy.
