Remembering 9/11 with The Performance Project at John Jay

The Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College presents The 9/11 Performance Project, a series of three complementary plays, from Friday, September 9 - Sunday, September 11, 2011 at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College, 899 Tenth Avenue, NYC. Tickets are available at www.ticketcentral.com or by phone at 212-279-4200.

Co-Produced with Professor Seth Baumrin, Chair of the Department of Communications and Theatre Arts at John Jay College, The 9/11 Performance Project is a set of three very different yet complementary plays: The Domestic Crusaders written by Wajahat Ali, Another Life written by Karen Malpede, and Demolition of the Eiffel Tower written by Jeton Neziraj. The Project is a vehicle for cultural diplomacy that advocates reform of the post-September 11th political atmosphere and promotes a return to critical thinking, adherence to the rule of law, respect for civil liberties and upholding human rights in the United States and abroad. The goal of the performances and public dialogue is to create an experience that will engage the public and help society enact more progressive thinking and action in the search for understanding current U.S. and world policies, and their consequences, and furthering the understanding of Islam as it is lived today. A JUST-US Dialogue will follow most performances. Two student productions and a series of free panel discussions will round out The 9/11 Performance Project.

Demolition of the Eiffel Tower
Written by Jeton Neziraj (Kosovo), Directed by Kushtrim Bekteshi (Macedonia), Produced by International Theatre Festival MESS
Starring Amar Selimovic, Alban Ukaj, Adi Hrustemovic, Irma Alimanovic, and Alma Terzic
Friday, September 9, 2011 at 7:30pm, followed by a JUST-US Dialogue;
Saturday, September 10, 2011 at 12pm
Performed in Albanian with English supertitles
A tragicomedy, Demolition of the Eiffel Tower addresses one of the modern world's most significant problems - terrorism arising as a consequence of global political and religious conflicts. Above all, the play highlights misunderstandings, stereotypes, and prejudices created as a consequence of secular politics clashing with religious observations in Paris. For more information about the playwright, visit www.jetonneziraj.com. For more information on MESS Festival, visit www.mess.ba.
Tickets $20 ($10 students)

The Domestic Crusaders
Written by Wajahat Ali, 2011 OTTO-award winner for The Domestic Crusaders and San Francisco based attorney
Directed by Carla Blank
Starring Adeel Ahmed, Deepti Gupta, Imran Javaid, Kamran Khan, Monisha Shiva, and Abbas Zaidi
Invited Dress Rehearsal: Friday, September 9, 2011 at 10am; Saturday, September 10, 2011 at 4pm;
Sunday, September 11, 2011 at 5pm, followed by a JUST-US Dialogue Moderated Panel
An award winning two-act play written by a Muslim-American, The Domestic Crusaders, the first play ever published by McSweeney's,is an authentic, revelatory, and no-holds barred depiction of a day in the life of a contemporary Pakistani-American Muslim family post-9/11/01. For more information about the playwright and the company, visit www.domesticcrusaders.com.
Tickets $20 ($10 students)


Another Life
Written and Directed by Karen Malpede (author/director of Prophecy, editor: Acts of War)
Starring George Bartenieff with Eunice Wong, Ariel Sharif, Omar Koury, Christen Clifford, Dorien Makhloghi
Co-Produced with Theater Three Collaborative
Invited Dress Rehearsal Thursday, September 8, 2011 at 7:30pm, following The
Saturday, September 10, 2011 at 8pm;
Sunday, September 11, 2011 at 1:30pm, followed by a JUST-US Dialogue with author Chris Hedges
A surreal, real, and satiric story of a mogul and his daughter locked in a titanic struggle, Another Life offers a whirl-wind trip through the past ten years.  Greed, torture, war-lust and sexual enslavement vie with a subtle but growing resistance that leads to brave acts of caring and whistle-blowing. Another Life employs inventive language and memorable characters to bring to light questions of complicity and conscience in civil society. For more information, visit www.theaterthreecollaborative.org.
Tickets $20 ($10 students)

Student Productions

What Happened: The September 11th Testimony Project
By Professor Amy S. Green, Directed by Professor Michael Aman
Performed and produced by Chris Balda, Lori Duran, Jonathan Hamilton, Stephanie Lubin, Calvin Massiah, Michelle Robles, and Tyler Romero.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011 at 1:40pm, Haaren Hall, 3rd floor, John Jay College; Thursday, September 8, 2011 at 1:40pm, selected scenes from the Play during the John Jay College of Criminal Justice 9/11 Community Event at 1:40pm the Gerald W. Lynch Theater; Monday, September 12, 2011 at 1:40pm, Haaren Hall, 3rd Floor, John Jay College
Based on interviews conducted by students at John Jay College of Criminal Justice during 2001-02

We Were Kids: 9/11 Stories
By Ayana Atkinson, Shaina Chavis, Gregg Donshik, Yun Gao, Peter Jules, Ashley Neely, Daniel O'Keefe, Stanley Santana, Mellody Tabary, Susan Tillman, Vivian Wang, Nadetia Williams, and Alex Zeaman.
Conceived in Professor Karen Malpede's Criminal Justice in Theatre class Summer 2011.
Directed by Vernice Miller, Artistic Director of A Laboratory of Actor Training
Stage Manager Syeda Fatima, John Jay College of Criminal Justice Peer Ambassador
Wednesday, September 7, 2011 at 1:40pm and Tuesday, September 13, 2011 at 1:40pm, Haaren Hall, 3rd Floor, John Jay College
A collaborative venture comprised of personal and community-based oral histories authored by John Jay students who were children in September 2001.

September 14, 2011 - Double Bill:
What Happened: The September 11th Testimony Project and We Were Kids: 9/11 Stories
Wednesday, September 14, 2011 at 7:05pm, Haaren Hall, 3rd Floor, John Jay College

FREE Panel Discussions
Sponsored in collaboration with the:
Center on Terrorism, John Jay College
Together with 9/11: Families for Peaceful Tomorrows
York College, CUNY, and the Christian Regenhard Center for Emergency Response Studies
Thursday, September 8 - Sunday, September 11, 2011
Nothing can adequately honor the pain of 9/11 survivors and the families of those who died in the disaster. It was too large an event, one that remains simultaneously ever-present and elusive. At John Jay College, which lost 68 alumni that day, we feel a special connection to the significance of 9/11 and wish to probe some of its enduring meanings on the cusp of this tenth anniversary year. In three panels and some smaller breakout sessions, these panels will explore 9/11 in cultural and historical memory.

The Guantanamo Lawyers' Panel
Thursday, September 8 at 5pm in the Gerald W. Lynch Theater lobby
This panel of lawyers who represent Guantanamo and other detainees and work to defend civil liberties at home is bound to create an incredible dialogue about some of the most hotly debated and contested issues surrounding the ongoing detainment of terrorism "suspects" and the line between interrogation and torture. Panelists: Jonathan Hafetz, Seton Hall and Rutgers Universities; Martha Rayner, Fordham Law, currently representing a Guantanamo detainee; Gita Gutierrez, the Center on Constitutional Rights; Alex Abdo, ACLU's National Security Project; chaired by Kathleen Chalfant, award-winning actress of stage and screen and advocate of social justice.

Panel: 9/11 After Ten Years - The Cultural Perspective
Friday, September 9 at 11am in Room 630, Haaren Hall, John Jay College
The vast scale of 9/11 left its enduring mark on our culture. There is nothing that has been untouched, from novels and poetry, to film, art, theater, photography, and television, indeed all aspects of the way we try and creatively imagine terrorism, survival and resilience. This panel of writers and scholars will address these interrelated issues and invite reflection on the deeper meanings of culture and 9/11. Panelists: Amy Waldman, national correspondent for the Atlantic Monthly and author of The Submission: A Novel (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011); Karen Malpede, playwright, author of "Another Life" at John Jay College, as part of the 9/11 Performances Series and editor of Acts of War: Iraq and Afghanistan in Seven Plays (Northwestern University Press, 2011); Susie Linfield, Professor of Journalism at New York University Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute and author of The Cruel Radiance: Photography and Political Violence (University of Chicago Press, 2010); Chaired by Michael Flynn, Associate Professor of Psychology, York College, CUNY and Associate Director, Center on Terrorism, John Jay College, CUNY

Panel: 9/11 After 10 Years - The Historical Perspective
Friday, September 9 at 4:30pm in Room 630, Haaren Hall, John Jay College
Mourning a loss, whether personal or collective, finds its most poignant moment of commemoration after a year. After that the dates tend to blur and anniversaries mean different things to different people. But with the tenth anniversary of 9/11, memories will fade, which is not to say forgotten but memorialized in different ways. The context changes, an idea that will be explored from several perspectives in this panel of scholars who will examine the disaster in historical perspective as we look forward, with some trepidation, to the future. Panelists: Robert Jay Lifton, Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology Emeritus, John Jay College and the Graduate Center, CUNY and author of Witness to an Extreme Century (The Free Press, 2011); Karen Joy Greenberg, Executive Director of the Center on Law and Security at New York University School of Law and author of The Least Worst Place: Guantanamo's First 100 Days (Oxford University Press, 2009); Moustafa Bayoumi, Professor of English, Brooklyn College, CUNY and author of How Does it Feel to be a Problem: Being Young and Arab in America; Louis Bickford, Adjunct Associate Professor of Public Administration, New York University Wagner School and Director of the New York office of the Robert F Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights; Chaired by Peter Romaniuk, Associate Professor of Government and Associate Director of the Center on Terrorism, John Jay College, CUNY and author of Multilateral Counterterrorism: The Global Politics of Cooperation and Contestation (Routledge, 2010)

Panel: The Muslim-American post 9/11 experience
Sunday, September 11 at 7:30pm, immediately following 5pm performance of The Domestic Crusaders, Gerald W. Lynch Theater, Haaren Hall, John Jay College
This panel will solicit audience responses to the play and will specifically include issues pertaining to the Muslim-American experience post 9/11. Panelists: Wajahat Ali, playwright of The Domestic Crusaders and San Francisco-based attorney; Carla Blank, director of The Domestic Crusaders; Ishmael Reed, American poet, essayist, and novelist. A prominent African-American literary figure, Reed is known for his satirical works challenging American political culture, and highlighting political and cultural oppression.

Beginning in 2008, the Theater created what has become its signature series, ART OF JUSTICE, which focuses on how the artistic imagination can shed light on the many perceptions of justice in society. ART OF JUSTICE focuses on advocacy for marginalized communities through music, drama, dance and fine art. JUST-US Dialogues, a supplemental series, will be formally introduced this fall. Through intimate discussions, lectures and post-show dialogues with artists and experts, audiences will gain legible context and have the opportunity to exchange critical thinking and share perspectives. Provocative and engaging performances that explore topics ranging from the post 9/11 political and cultural environment in the United States and abroad, immigration and race, religious freedoms and separation of church and state are included in this season's ART OF JUSTICE series.

Since opening its doors in 1988, the Gerald W. Lynch Theater has been an invaluable cultural resource for John Jay College and the larger New York City community. Its signature series, The Art of Justice, is the only performance series in New York that presents a diverse exploration of the role performing arts have played in the pursuit of social, transitional and criminal justice. The Theater has collaborated with such noted companies as Epic Theatre Ensemble, Gotham Chamber Opera, and has also hosted prestigious events for Lincoln Center Festival, Great Performances, Juilliard, Alvin Ailey and numerous television specials for HBO and Comedy Central.

About John Jay College of Criminal Justice: An international leader in educating for justice, John Jay College of Criminal Justice of The City University of New York offers a rich liberal arts and professional studies curriculum to upwards of 15,000 undergraduate and graduate students from more than 135 nations. In teaching, scholarship and research, the College approaches justice as an applied art and science in service to society and as an ongoing conversation about fundamental human desires for fairness, equality and the rule of law. For more information, visit www.jjay.cuny.edu.

For more information, visit www.jjay.cuny.edu/theater.php.