Intimate, potent, and universal. ‘This Is Who I Am,’ with its heft and moments of beauty, helps me understand more fully the power of theater.
WBUR The ARTery
This Is Who I Am returns for a limited engagement, available on demand through April 25.
Two actors perform a balancing act of care and resentment, closeness and vast separation, as they cook in real time over video chat. Separated by continents, an estranged father and son reunite over Zoom. From their respective kitchens in Ramallah and New York City, they recreate a cherished family recipe and struggle to bridge the gap between them, one ingredient at a time.
Told through the intimacy of a video call with humor and humanity, Amir Nizar Zuabi’s new play explores the unpredictable nature of grief and the delicacy of family connection across geographical and generational divides.
This production contains descriptions of violence and death of a parent/spouse.
Restaurant Partner
We encourage you to pair a performance of This Is Who I Am with a meal from Andala Coffee House, who we are excited to partner with for this production. With its warm atmosphere and delicious authentic Middle Eastern food and drinks, Andala Coffee House brings the culture and tradition of the Old City of Jerusalem to Cambridge. Owner Sami Herbawi has put together a select menu inspired by the production. You can order take away at 617.945.2212 or on GrubHub.
By Amir Nizar Zuabi
Directed by Evren Odcikin
Presented by PlayCo and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, in Association with American Repertory Theater, Guthrie Theater, and Oregon Shakespeare Festival
Notable dates
On Demand Thru: 4/25
ASL-Interpreted On Demand Thru: 4/25
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Little Jerusalem
Little Jerusalem, directed by Zena Agha, tells the story of our restaurant partner Andala Coffee House, a Palestinian-owned cafe in Cambridge Massachusetts. The owner, Sami Herbawi, narrates his life outside his home city of Jerusalem and his experience in the diaspora. The documentary is presented in partnership with Boston Palestine Film Festival.
Credits
Artists
Dad
Ramsey Faragallah
Ramsey Faragallah is an actor, a writer, and teacher. Onstage he has appeared at the Kennedy Center, The Public Theater, Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Theatre Club, Rikers Island and other minimum and maximum security prisons, Yale University, Sundance, The McCarter, The Culture Project, Williamstown, Hartford Stage, Red Bull, New York Stage and Film, The New Vic (London), and theaters throughout Europe and Australia. His many television appearances include recurring and guest star roles in Tommy, Bull, Mozart in the Jungle, Taken, Madame Secretary, The Black List, Homeland, the Law & Order trifecta, and thirteen seasons with David Letterman. He has appeared in the films of Sidney Pollack, Sidney Lumet, and several films of Woody Allen. Voiceover work for Radio Lab, This American Life, Playing on Air, NOVA, Random House, Penguin, and others. Ramsey studied with Ms. Stella Adler, is a member of The Actors Center, and is enthusiastically dedicated to restoring, driving, and racing vintage automobiles.
Son
Yousof Sultani
Son
Yousof Sultani
Yousof Sultani is thrilled to be making his Woolly Mammoth, PlayCo, Guthrie, A.R.T., and OSF debuts! He was most recently seen on stage in A Thousand Splendid Suns at Arena Stage in D.C. Other credits include: And Then There Were None (Drury Lane), Photograph 51 (Court Theatre), Heartland (InterAct Theatre), Miss Bennet: Christmas At Pemberley and Guards At The Taj (Milwaukee Repertory Theater), The Doppelgänger: An International Farce and The Fundamentals (Steppenwolf Theatre), United Flight 232 (House Theatre), Disappearing Number and Inana (TimeLine Theatre), Othello (Chicago Shakespeare Theater), The Hundred Flowers Project (Silk Road Rising). Film credits include Glass House. Television credits include “The Brave” (NBC), “Empire” (Fox), and “Chicago Fire” (NBC). Yousof received his BFA in Performance from Virginia Commonwealth University. He will be dedicating his performance to his father, Wahid Sultani.