Holy Land
by Mohamed Kacimi, translated by Chantal Bilodeau
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“the dialogue has a fine laughing-to-keep-from-crying feel.” --- NY Times
"it is a play that definitely needs to be seen."-- Culturebolt
“Kacimi’s script is deeply poetic. In the text, the main characters find freedom beyond devastation."-- Theater Pizzazz
“The actors were all committed, all game, all talented” -- nytheater now
"“The use of shadow and light is impressive.” -- Theater Pizzazz
Holy Land has been presented to critical acclaim in Paris, Vienna, Prague, London, Milan, Jerusalem, Rio de Janeiro, Stockholm and Hamburg. 3rd Kulture Kids is bringing it to you here for its U.S. premiere with a fully multicultural team! Can we find humor & poetry in extreme situations? Mohamed Kacimi’s compelling and entertaining Holy Land answers this question as five contemporary characters face the devastation of war. A city under siege…the landscape is dusty, devastated and Carmen has disappeared at a checkpoint. Her daughter, Imen, must face a soldier’s house search alone. in the house next door, Alia, a midwife, prepares her coffee as if nothing else matters while Yad, her husband, gets away from it all by smoking and drinking. The only hope seems to reside in Jesus: the cat. This dark and humorous story follows two families hanging on to the banality of day-to-day life, at times to the point of insanity, as a way to transcend the atrocities of war.
Director: Tracy Cameron Francis
Producer: Pia Haddad
Associate Producer: Kimille Howard
Actors:
Sean Carvajal: Amin
Jojo Gonzalez*: Yad
Ana Grosse*: Alia
Pia Haddad: Imen
Gil Perez-Abraham*: Ian
Stage Manager: Laura Perez*
Creative Team:
Set Design: Sheryl Liu
Lighting Design: Miguel Valderrama
Sound Design: Charles Coes
Costume Design: Lisa Renee Jordan
* These Actors and Stage Manager(s) are appearing courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association
Playwrights Biographies
MOHAMED KACIMI (playwright) was born in Algeria in a family of theologians. Mohamed is a poet, playwright, novelist, translator, journalist and the president of Écritures du Monde - an organization that puts together international writing residencies. He is a recipient of the Prix Lugano du théâtre, the 2005 Prix SACD de la francophonie and a Jury Special Mention from the Grand Prix de littérature dramatique 2007. His plays have been translated into several languages and been performed worldwide. He has written multiple books including an encyclopedia of the Arab world for children. He is based in Paris.
CHANTAL BILODEAU (Translator) is a New York-based playwright and translator originally from Montreal, Canada. Her plays and translations have been presented in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Italy. Recent awards include the Woodward International Playwriting Prize, First Prize in the 2011 Uprising National Playwriting Competition, 2012 Earth Matters on Stage Ecodrama Festival. She has translated over a dozen plays by contemporary playwrights Sébastien David (Quebec), Mohamed Kacimi (Algeria), Koffi Kwahulé (Côte d’Ivoire), Étienne Lepage (Quebec) and Larry Tremblay (Quebec). www.cbilodeau.com and artistsandclimatechange.com