Photo courtesy of Kathryn Haddad
Kathryn Haddad
If you don’t know Kathryn Haddad by now, you probably should.
Her resume alone could take up an entire article: local playwright, founder of Mizna (an arts organization which published the first Arab American literary journal in the country), executive and artistic director of the New Arab American Theater, a 2019–2020 Jerome Fellow (one of only a handful in the country), a longtime Twin Cities language arts teacher, and so on. Yes, most of that happened at the same time. The woman’s got chops. She’s been speaking up for the arts world in Minnesota—specifically the oft-overlooked Arab American community—for decades. But Haddad’s newest work is showing a different, more personal side of herself than ever before.
Her latest play, Zafira and the Resistance, opened this past weekend in the Guthrie’s Dowling Studio. It tells the story of an Arab American teacher and her students during a time of extreme political unrest and Islamophobia. When Zafira’s school gets swept up in a controversial leader’s command, the community must come together to fight back. If the plot sounds vaguely in line with the current climate, it is. But not exactly. And then there’s Haddad’s Jerome Fellowship work—a 100-year theatrical history of Lebanese and Syrian immigration to Minnesota and beyond, which is loosely based on her own family’s story, but not exactly.
So why now? Why is Haddad opening up her life, prodding at decades-old scars and working through generations of family history? We sat down with her ahead of Zafira’s opening weekend to learn more about her new play, why she’s going all-in on personal(ish) stories, and how the arts are fighting anti-Arab sentiment in Minnesota.
This is your first work with the Guthrie. How did it come about?
They approached me about collaborating and I immediately thought of this play. It's a revision of a play I wrote and Pangea World Theater produced in 2011, and I wanted to update it for the current times. When I had first written it, it reflected the possibility of internment for Arab Americans and Muslims. After 9/11, there was so much anti-Arab and Muslim bias. People were talking, even at that time, about possible internment, and I found that to be very chilling and frightening. People said that it was very science-fiction, nothing like this would happen again—but over the past years it feels like things have gotten worse. More anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim sentiment, and all the frightening frenzy that's happened. Many people who had seen the original play said you need to bring Zafira back.
Is the new version based on current events?
It definitely does have some nods to what's happening currently, but I tried hard to not write something that was a reaction just to what's going on right now because that will date it. And it's not as universal. But I'm hoping when audiences come to see it, they will think about what's been happening, and it’ll also be something to think about in years to come. There are some elements reflective of today, and definitely autobiographical elements that are reflective of experiences I had in the ’90s, when I was teaching in a different place. During several presidencies now, we’ve still been dealing with the same anti-Arab and Muslim sentiments in the schools. It's definitely not just about today, but I'm hoping people will feel like it's current.
What was that experience that inspired a scene?
There's one scene that's very similar to something that happened to me in a different district. I was called into the principal’s office and told that several parents had made a complaint that I was trying to convert their students to Islam, I was teaching too much Arab and Middle Eastern literature, and that parents were upset about that. The principal wanted to know what was going on in my class. I was just flabbergasted. For one thing, I'm not Muslim, so to be told I'm trying to convert the students was quite shocking. The principal wouldn't listen to me, and I was not told who made these accusations, and then I lost my job. Not for that reason—they said it was budget cuts—but they didn't have to let me go. It seemed clear to me at the time that it was about who I was, and the things I was talking about in class, and so it was very frightening and chilling. That stayed with me.
What compelled you to write about it?
Just think, that happened in the ’90s! At that time in history, that kind of thing happened to one person. Imagine if it happened in a time of heightened Islamophobia, and a time where the country was at some type of war and the leader could actually motivate the people. It's a very frightening prospect, and it was something to explore. And it's a real fear of the Arab and Muslim community as well, that people are afraid to be counted in the census, or say they're Arab or Muslim, for something like that happening again. It was very much taken to the extreme to see what could possibly happen, and that's the basis for the play.
Even now, I must say, I'm more protected than I was then, but doing this play in this high-profile place is a little unnerving. I guess it's possible somebody could see it still and say hey, what’s this teacher doing in our classroom? I still have this feeling it could be dangerous for me in some way. But the only thing I know how to do is speak out, and speaking out through art is, to me, the perfect way to do that. Art is something that can draw people in and bring people to see humanity in a way that other ways of expressing yourself can't.
The only thing I know how to do is speak out, and speaking out through art is, to me, the perfect way to do that.
How did you get into playwriting?
I've been writing and involved in plays since I was 7 or 8 years old. I don't know why, but I've always loved it. I put playwriting to the side for many years, when I was the founder and executive director of Mizna. For many years I was pretty much an arts administrator. I really wanted to get back to my first love, which is writing. I just want to concentrate on doing what I want to do before it's too late. The first Zafira play was the first thing I wrote after I resigned from Mizna back in 2011.
How do you balance your work as a teacher, playwright, and arts admin? Do you sleep?
It's not easy. Most of my creative work happens over the summer and on vacations, because during the school year I generally can't do that. During the school year it's almost impossible to create—your brain is too full. That's one of the reasons the play is happening right now; it started at the end of summer. Pretty much all of my work has been done before school started. I'd been thinking about it for so long, so the prewriting process of really thinking about it and imagining and all that, that's a lot of the labor. Just putting it down is the easy part, it's the prewriting part that's hard.
How involved have you been in the production?
Very involved, since I'm also the executive and artistic director for New Arab American Theater Works—we're producing it with the Guthrie presenting it. So I've been involved with it since the beginning: selecting the directors, casting the show, and selecting the designers. Our directors came from out of town, so they couldn't really participate in that as much, which in some ways was fantastic because I got to have a lot of artistic control in the front end. It worked out well in the end, we got a fantastic team.
What was something you wanted to come out of the production aspect?
One thing I'm extremely proud of is the team of Arab Americans involved in this show. I have never worked with such a broad team of Arab American artists in one project. I'm extremely proud of that, and I think it will make a huge difference in the production compared to if that weren't the case. We have an Arab American sound designer, videographer, person who's done set design, both directors, stage manager and assistant stage manager, and of course me as a playwright, and many, many actors. It's really an Arab American production, which has been quite important in going in-depth in the story, in a way that we couldn't have done if that wasn't the case. And, except for the directors, they’re all local.
What are you hoping people take away from the show?
One thing is that it's a hopeful story. Even though it's very grim, it's about internment and racism and Islamophobia and anti-Arab sentiment, it's a hopeful story about solidarity between communities and the power of youth. I'm actually really inspired by the youth that have spoken out and made major movements in different realms, like climate change, gun control, we've got these powerful young people coming forward and forging a new path. I'm inspired by that, so I'm hoping that message will come through, that youth have a lot of power. And, on a simpler level, I want people to see a larger variety of Arab American and Muslim lives on stage than they may have before. A variety and multiplicity of views and people.
You mentioned the power of youth—does your teaching influence your playwriting?
This is the first time, with this story, that I've overtly written about being a teacher, about school. But for sure it influences my writing. When I learn about my students’ lives, it really breaks my heart. So many of them are struggling with things I don't even imagine young people having to struggle with. That also moves me to act on their behalf.
What’s next for you?
I got notified I received a Jerome Fellowship in late spring. It gives you the money and time to work on your own personal projects. Before this, I was working on a big project that will continue once this play is over. It's 100 years of Lebanese and Syrian immigration history, and that's the big project I want to work on with the Jerome Fellowship. It looks at what's happened in our community, from the early 1900s to the present, based on my family's story—my grandfather up to the present, but also looking at the Lebanese communities in Minnesota and other places in the world. That was the big project I was working on before the opportunity to do Zafira came up. I didn't feel ready to do this project at this time, because I wanted more time on it. With the fellowship, I'm hoping to get back into that project, which is exciting and very personal for me. This one is also a very personal story, but it's fictional, of course, where the next project is very much based in history and a totally different style and type of theater. The goal is to have a draft of the play by this time next year.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
