 action & events Comedy: "I Heart Hamas" at the NYC Fringe, August 8th-24th "I Heart Hamas: And Other Things I'm Afraid to Tell You" Written and Performed by Jennifer Jajeh
The New York International Fringe Festival A production of The Present Company, August 8th-24th Jennifer is trying to get back home, but it's a lot more complicated than that. The guy sitting next to her in the taxi is smoking cigarettes, but won't roll the window down because he doesn't want to let the tear gas in. The 70 year old grandmother on her other side wants to know why her Arabic is so bad, why she doesn't wax her arms and why at the age of 28 she is not yet married. It's 100 degrees outside, and she's been in this taxi for 2 hours even though it should have been a 20 minute ride. And all she can focus on are the soldiers on the one side of the road shooting rubber bullets through traffic at the kids hurling stones and curses on the other side of the road. Wait, why did she want to come to Palestine? Oh yes that's right, sick and tired of the unsolicited discussions, debates and disagreements about her identity and her opinions about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Jennifer decides to go to Palestine and figure it out for herself. Join her on American and Palestinian soil on auditions, bad dates, and across military checkpoints as she navigates the thorny question of "where are you from?", and defines for herself what being a single, Christian Palestinian-American woman really means. Apparently it means a lot of comedy. Jajeh & Co. is proud to present the world premiere of Jennifer Jajeh's groundbreaking solo show "I Heart Hamas: And Other Things I'm Afraid to Tell You" as part of the 11th annual New York International Fringe Festival. As a solo show director W. Kamau Bell has helmed "don't make me look too psychotic", "F**king Handicapped Guy", and "Miss-Matches.com", among others. He founded and directs SF's Solo Performance Workshop, an incubator for new solo talent. He is extremely excited to be directing Jennifer Jajeh's "I Heart Hamas". BIOGRAPHIES
Jennifer Jajeh is a San Francisco based artist. As an actor, she has appeared in numerous film, television, commercial and theatre productions. She is currently shooting a feature film, "Under One Sun" with director Amir Jaffer, and can be heard on the web as part of the ongoing improv podcast Radiostar. She received her actor's training at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Conservatory in NYC and the American Conservatory Theatre in SF. In addition to her work as an actor, she has produced and directed award winning independent film and video projects. Her two short films, "In My Own Skin" and "Fruition", have screened nationally and internationally in film festivals, museums, art galleries and universities.
W. Kamau Bell's television appearances include Comics Unleashed and Comedy Central. In 2005 he was chosen to perform at the prestigious Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal, and he was the only comedian invited to perform on both The New Faces Show and The Best of The Uptown Comics Show. As a writer he was featured in the book "What Would Bill Hicks Say?" Kamau can be heard on radio station Live 105 and online at Roof Top Comedy as half of the rant and rave team, "Siskel and Negro". Kamau has been profiled in The San Francisco Chronicle on three different occasions, including not ironically during Black History Month. The SF Weekly called him, "smart, stylish, and very much in the mold of politically outspoken comedians like Dave Chappelle and Margaret Cho", although he was more excited that they called him "handsome". For more information, go to www.ihearthamas.com Tickets: $15 at www.FringeNYC.org Tickets: $15 at Direct Link to show's tickets on the Fringe NYC site |
