Past Production

I Call My Brothers

Jonas Hassen Khemiri Translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles Directed by Evren Odcikin West Coast Premiere

Mar 31–Apr 23 · The Thick House

Show Details

Jonas Hassen Khemiri

Something just happened. A car. An explosion. And a city is paralyzed with fear. The goal is to blend in. The goal is to become invisible. There. Now you’re ready.

In this funny and fierce showdown with paranoia, the award-winning Jonas Hassen Khemiri takes us on an intense 24-hour journey inside one young man’s head. What happens when the lines between reality and fantasy, love and fear, criminal and victim, become increasingly blurred?

Cast

Featuring: Shoresh Alaudini, Denmo Ibrahim◼, Olivia Rosaldo, Mohammad Shehata◼
Assistant Director: May Liang
Scenic Design: Adeline Smith
Costume Design: Michelle Mullholland
Lighting Design: Beth Hersh
Sound Design: Sara Huddleston
Props Design: Devon LaBelle★
Stage Manager: Celeste Jacobson-Ingram
Assistant Stage Manager: Benjamin Shiu
Production Manager: Stephanie Alyson Henderson★

★ Crowded Fire Resident Artist
◼ Member of Actors’ Equity Association

Reviews

“Khemiri blends something extreme and terrifying with the turmoil and drama of being a young man who has family issues and romantic obsessions…that tension is part of what propels director Evren Odcikin’s compelling, superbly acted production.” — Chad Jones, TheaterDogs

I CALL MY BROTHERS “offers an antidote to the many misconceived versions of Middle Eastern men in popular culture…Pale audiences everywhere are long overdue for this kind of theatrical corrective.” — Jeffrey Edalatpour, SF Weekly

“CFT’s production of I Call My Brothers is a triumph for everyone involved….Adeline Smith’s simple unit set features a plexiglass mobile representing the shards of broken glass resulting from the car bomb. Beth Hersh’s lighting design and Sara Huddleston’s superb sound design contribute to 90 minutes of breathtaking theatricality guided by Evren Odcikin’s loving direction and choreography.” — George Heymont, My Cultural Landscape

Photos

A car has exploded and a city is crippled in fear. Amor (Shoresh Alaudini, center) walks the streets trying to appear normal. Olivia Rosaldo, Mohammad Shehata, and Denmo Ibrahim (left to right) morph in and out of multiple characters blurring the lines between reality and fantasy, love and fear, and criminal and victim.

I CALL MY BROTHERS is a kaleidoscopic perspective of one Muslim American’s experience following a terrorist attack on his city. Shoresh Alaudini plays the central character Amor. (Also pictured: Olivia Rosaldo)

Director Evren Odcikin uses a sparse installation art set (designed by Adeline Smith), theatrical lighting (designed by Beth Hersh), and inventive sound (designed by Sara Huddleston) to weave the stream of conscious narrative in I CALL MY BROTHERS. Costumes by Michelle Mulholland. Actors left to right: Olivia Rosaldo, Mohammad Shehata, Shoresh Alaudini, Denmo Ibrahim.

Denmo Ibrahim as Tyra, Amor’s grandmother is one of many surrounding Amor (played by Shoresh Alaudini) in his time of need.

Funders

2016 Corporate Season Sponsor: Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP

2016 Season Sponsors: Dugan Moore, Karena Fiorenza Ingersoll & Emerys Ingersoll, G. Tiphane

2016 Season Support: San Franisco Arts Commission, San Francisco Foundation

General Operating Support: The Kenneth Rainin Foundation, Grants for the Arts/Hotel Tax Fund

I Call My Brothers Project Support: Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation, Zellerbach Family Foundation, Pepi Ross & Jason Marks, Andrew Lazarus & Naomi Janowitz