Pacific University’s Theatre Department and local Director Debbie Lamedman, in partnership with the Muslim Student Association and the Center for Peace and Spirituality, are preparing to present “Veils,” a play that has already received a significant amount of praise despite being a relatively new release. “It’s so timely and it’s so beautiful,” Theatre and Dance Department Chair Ellen Margolis said. “It’s such an intimate story that also reflects this huge cultural background and political intrigue and friction.” “Veils” is a story about two Muslim women named Intisar, an African American, and Samar, a native Egyptian, who meet at a university in Cairo in the time leading up to the Arab Spring and Egyptian Revolution in 2010. Intisar is surprised to find that her roommate, Samar, is not as traditional or conservative as herself. “They’re kind of on either side of this debate about veiling while their friendship is growing and they’re becoming really important in each other’s lives and they’re both having interactions with the fray of the political canvas behind them, or around them,” Margolis said. “I got completely swept up in the friendship of these two women,” Lamedman said. “All the while being vividly reminded of the cultural differences between them.”
The original playwright of “Veils,” Tom Coash, will be attending the productions at Pacific and guests are welcome to stay after the Thursday and Friday showings to ask questions and have a conversation with Coash and the cast. “Veils” will play at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 9 -11 and at 2:00 p.m. on Feb. 12 in the Tom Miles Theatre in Warner Hall. Tickets are available at tinyurl.com/pacutickets. “There’s a lot of fear around our different backgrounds and religions and this is a story that really takes all of that and lets us look at it with a lot of compassion and a lot of honesty and a lot of heart,” Margolis said. “People are going to really want to come out see this one.”
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