Pakistani play to grace Broadway

‘Airport Insecurity’ will be performed at Dimensions Festival

KARACHI: As a stand-up comedian, Shehzad Ghias Sheikh might not have made it big so far, but as a theatre man, he has gone top flight with his latest achievement.

According to a press release, the comedian-playwright’s latest production, Airport Insecurity, will be performed at Broadway. The two-act play is being produced by Blue Pearl Theatrics Company and will be directed by Alex Andrup as part of the lineup for the Dimensions Festival in New York. It will be stage at The Bridge Theater which is situated in the heart of Manhattan’s iconic Theatre District.

Airport Insecurity tells the story of two people who rub shoulders at an airport lounge while waiting to board their flights. Eddy, a teenager of colour, and Saad, a Pakistani Muslim, strike a chord as they find themselves in a similar struggle while discussing racism in America. Soon an explosion is heard and the two end up on the wrong end of the interrogation table with the law-enforcement. As the play moves forward, both the leading characters end up at loggerheads with one another after undergoing intense questioning which causes their own internal racism to emerge.



While the play may be guised as a comic production, it touches upon an assortment of issues immigrant families encounter while living in America, most notably that of racism using the prisoner’s dilemma.

Even though the audiences are unable to discover who the real culprit is, the play does offer them an opportunity to explore their own prejudices. A dramatic reading of the play has previously taken place in Brooklyn last year.

Sheikh, who has actively been performing in the Pakistani comedy circuit, also manages his own theatre troupe by the name of Gogito Productions.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 7^th, 2016.

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