Khaalidah

I was very happy when Rohina Malik agreed to this inter­view.  A wife, mother, and play­wright, I knew she’d be busy, but she didn’t dis­ap­point.  Rohina grew up in Lon­don but moved to the U.S. at the age of 15.  She says that she loves the the­ater both as a prac­ti­tioner and a viewer.

1.  I am par­tic­u­larly intrigued by your play Unveiled.  The play focuses on five Mus­lim women as they nav­i­gate the post 9–11 land­scape, their expe­ri­ences and understandings. 

Was there a spe­cific event in your life that pre­cip­i­tated your writ­ing and ulti­mately per­form­ing this one woman play?  If not a par­tic­u­lar event, was there some­thing par­tic­u­lar on your mind that you wanted to relate that caused you to write this?

Grow­ing up in Lon­don, racism was a part of life.  But noth­ing pre­pared me for the back­lash after 9/11 in the US.  It seemed like every­one I knew had a story, that ranged from silly to bone chill­ing.  An inci­dent at my best friend’s wed­ding that inspired me to write Unveiled.  There were two wed­dings tak­ing place at this par­tic­u­lar venue, and a man began to swear at me.  He had a very strong reac­tion to my veil.  The inci­dent took place in front of my chil­dren and so quickly almost became violent.

When I started to write Unveiled, I began from a very per­sonal place, and told the story of the wedding.  Once that was com­plete, some­one com­mented on the Chai men­tioned in the story.  I then framed each story with a tea from the Mus­lim world.

2.  Who is your favorite of the five women that you rep­re­sent in Unveiled?  Tell me why?

I love all five of the women in my play.  They rep­re­sent the diver­sity of the Mus­lim community.  If I had to choose, I would say Sha­bana, the Lon­don rapper.  I love hip hop and find it very powerful.  It’s always fun for me to trans­form into a rap­per because she’s so dif­fer­ent from me.

3.  Where and when did Unveiled show? 

Unveiled had its World Pre­miere in May 2009 at the 16th Street The­ater, directed by Ann Filmer, where it received crit­i­cal acclaim, and the entire run and exten­sion was sold out. Unveiled received a sec­ond pro­duc­tion at Vic­tory Gar­dens The­ater, a third pro­duc­tion at Next The­ater, and a fourth pro­duc­tion at Brava The­ater, San Fran­cisco.  There will be a fifth pro­duc­tion in April 2013 at Cross­roads The­ater, NJ.

4.  There is a video on YouTube which shows a young man in tears after see­ing your play.  He talks about how wrong some of his mis­con­ceived notions about Mus­lims were.  Knowing that you have touched some­one so deeply and pos­si­bly changed someone’s heart must be an awe­some feeling.  Relate some of the most curi­ous (whether good or bad) reac­tions Unveiled has received.  Do you believe that your mes­sage was successful?

I can’t tell you how often peo­ple have bro­ken down into sobs after see­ing Unveiled.  It reminds me of the power of Art and the power of theater.

5.  You have two other plays, Mecca Tales and Yasmina’s Necklace.  Please share a brief expla­na­tion of these plays, where they are (or have) showing.

Yasmina’s Neck­lace deals with the war in Iraq, and is still in development.

The Mecca Tales was a play com­mis­sioned by The Good­man The­ater.  It was inspired by Chaucer’s The Can­ter­bury Tales.  The plays deals with pil­grims who share sto­ries of why they are going to Mecca for the Hajj.

6.  Are you work­ing on any­thing else?  If yes, please tell me about it.

I’m writ­ing a graphic novel with my illus­tra­tor friend and brother-in-law Michael Klaus Schmidt.  The book is called “Layla and the Red Winged Blackbird.”

7.  Do you have plans to branch out in the future to film or do you pre­fer to stay on the stage?

At the moment I’m focused on plays, but yes, I would love to write a sceen­play one day, inshallah…

If you are inter­ested in hav­ing Rohina Malik per­form where you live, she can be con­tacted at: unveiledtheplay@gmail.com