On September 11, 2013, students and faculty at Appalachian State University had the opportunity to talk with playwright Ayad Akhtar about his plays and his theatrical career. Akhtar was invited to campus by the Summer Reading Program, which selected his novel American Dervish as this year’s freshman book. He spoke at several events during his two-day visit, most of which focused on American Dervish and its themes; but this event, co-sponsored by the Department of Theatre & Dance, focused on his Pulitzer Prize-winning play Disgraced and his career as a theatre artist.
The event began with a group of four Appalachian State Theatre students reading select scenes from Disgraced. The play depicts the story of a Muslim-American lawyer, but many audience members from different backgrounds, races, and ethnicities commented on how much of themselves they saw in this character. Tiffany Christian, an African-American First Year Seminar instructor who attended the event, said: "I went into this thinking I was going to see scenes from a play about Muslims but quickly I lost sight of the color/religion of the characters and simply saw the struggle—their struggle, my struggle. I simultaneously saw a side of Islam that gave me a new empathy but also saw a commonality of struggle that reminded me of my own humanity." Pami Cuevas, a Theatre major from Puerto Rico who was also in the audience, echoed Christian’s sentiments: “Even though the circumstances and topic at hand were different from her experiences and mine, the story resembled parts of my life where I have dealt with ignorant prejudices because of my ethnicity. It was incredible to see how individuals from different backgrounds and walks of life can still share a common ground.” Clark Maddux, an Anglo-American who is Director of the Appalachian and the Community Together (ACT) Program and former Director of the Summer Reading Program, summed up the responses of many in the audience: “I was struck by the humanness of the situation, and was really quite moved by the performance.”
After the reading, Akhtar held a Q&A with the audience. He described some key moments in the process of creating Disgraced: how the main character had been in his imagination for a long time before he wrote the play; how shocked and distressed he was the day he wrote the climactic scene and realized the horrible action the protagonist had to take; and how he set out from the beginning intending for the play to be a tragedy. He also commented on a range of other topics, from his interpretation of Aristotle’s definition of tragedy to the importance of finding your unique voice and making your own opportunities as a theatre artist. Luke Schaffer, a Theatre major who attended the event, found Akhtar’s example inspiring: “I learned a lot about why he writes and why he is involved in theatre, which gave me reassurance and a new confidence.”
Drs. Ray Miller and Paulette Marty co-facilitated the staged reading, which featured student actors Paige Borden, Tyler Kleckner, Caitlin Parker, and Luke White.
Ayad Akhtar
