I Call My Brothers. New Ohio Theatre (see Off Broadway). By Jonas Hassen Khemiri. Translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles. Directed by Erica Schmidt. With ensemble cast. Running time: 1hr 20mins. No intermission.
I Call My Brothers: In brief
The artists behind 2011's Invasion!—Swedish playwright Jonas Hassen Khemiri, director Erica Schmidt and the PlayCo troupe—reunite for another incendiary theater work, this one dealing with racial profiling after a suicide bombing.
I Call My Brothers: Theater review by Jenna Scherer
With his latest play, Swedish provocateur Jonas Hassen Khemiri (Invasion!) tries to keep the audience off balance, and it feels like an inexpertly performed parlor trick. We’re inside the mind of Middle Eastern–American guy Amor (Damon Owlia, overstuffed with monologues) on the day after a car bomb has gone off in midtown. As he wanders the city on a routine errand (or not?), he falls prey (or not?) to racial-profiling policemen. In the meantime, we hear from his hyperactive best friend, his longtime crush and his, er, dead grandmother. They’re all trying to tell him something that… You know, I’m not really sure what they’re trying to tell him. That’s the problem with this play. Khemiri is so fixated on ambiguity and evasiveness that he leaves us utterly confused. I Call My Brothers seems to have a lot to say about racial profiling; I just couldn’t tell what the heck it was.—Theater review by Jenna Scherer
THE BOTTOM LINE: What just happened, exactly?