‘Disgraced’ Serves up Political Discord With a Side of Identity Crisis

Dyan James

A former Muslim, a Jew, an African-American and a WASP all sit down to dinner together. All are intelligent, well educated and highly cultured. And their tempers are about to hit the proverbial fan as their dinner conversation slowly becomes fodder for political and cultural discord and the increasingly agitated group becomes angry with one another and annoyed with themselves over confused identities and conflicting religious beliefs.

This one-act play centers on married couple Amir and Emily who live on the Upper East Side of New York. Amir, an American-born lawyer with Pakistani roots, abandoned his Muslim heritage due to his ancestors’ “backward way of thinking.” Emily, a WASP, is an emerging artist with a love of Islamic traditions and the ability to keep Amir connected to Islam.

In the interest of appeasing his nephew Abe (formerly known as Hussein), Amir finds himself reluctantly taking part in a very controversial case involving the arrest of an imam (a Mosque prayer leader). Both Abe and Emily feel the imam is being unjustly persecuted and therefore convince Amir to involve himself. While Amir hopes to only be slightly involved, his appearing in court with the imam’s legal team causes a major uproar resulting in his association getting written about in the New York Times.

Amir and Emily invite their friends Jory (Amir’s African-American colleague) and her Jewish boyfriend Isaac (Emily’s art dealer) to dinner. With a multitude of backgrounds represented, as well as Amir’s involvement in a widely controversial case, it’s only fitting that the conversation turns to differences in morals, values, religious and cultural backgrounds and traditions. The tension is thick as the group discusses the topics of 9/11, racial profiling, the Quran, the Taliban and the history of Islam, among other topics.

Amir, in particular, is torn in varying directions as he struggles with the contradictions of being upset at Isaac’s defense of Islam while feeling secretly proud of Islam’s advances. As tensions mount, the group comes to realizations about not only one another but also themselves.

“Disgraced” will play at the Mark Taper Forum June 8 – July 17. Click here for tickets.