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The TE'A Project
As part of our ongoing effort to use the arts to bring attention to issues affecting communities in conflict, Intersections supported the creation of The TE’A Project--an interactive documentary theatre initiative. Co-founded by Radha Productions, The TE’A Project (Theater Engagement and Action) engages conversation around harmful divisions in society. The theatrical performance pieces help build and strengthen communities on the key issues that threaten to divide or polarize them. The TE’A Project employs the magic of theatre to foster the kind of curiosity, insight, and self-reflection that enables audiences to transcend the barrier of experience, identity, and culture that disconnect them from each other, or that lock them into conflict.
The TE’A Project currently has produced the following projects:
Under the Veil: Being Muslim (and non-Muslim) in New York City, post 9/11
The first TE'A Project, Under the Veil: Being Muslim (and non-Muslim) in New York City, post 9/11, was produced in local partnership with the NiteStar Program. Created in 2009, the play focuses on the stereotypes and misconceptions Muslims experienced post 9/11. Set in New York City, the play is timely, provocative, and constructive. It uses theatre, music, and spoken word to highlight different barriers that divide Americans and fosters curiosity, insight and compassion that audience members need to transcend those barriers.
Under the Veil has been performed in many private and public theatres and academic institutions in the Northeast region, including the premiere at Intersections International, Essex Street Academy, George Washington University, Madison Avenue Baptist Church, Pace University and Temple Emeth. The play currently is touring other venues across the region.
UnCommon Ground
In January 2010, Radha Productions partnered with George Washington University’s Department of Theatre and Dance to collaborate on a TE’A-inspired process culminating in the creation of a theatrical performance piece for conflict resolution and peace building called UnCommon Ground. The theatrical piece explores the themes of being young, Muslim, and female in the nation’s capital. Spanning two academic semesters, the project had a theatrical company that included 15 young women from George Washington University and two young women from George Mason University who worked with 35 community members to create a piece which touches on identity, faith, and connection.
HOME/FRONT
The newest TE’A project, called HOME/FRONT, is a moving, funny, and deeply human theatrical piece about the challenges and triumphs of American veterans as they come home after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. HOME/FRONT offers an intimate, honest and compassionate entry into the world of four Americans recently returned to New York from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The play traces the journey of the characters as they reconnect with their friends, their lovers, and their losses. The audience travels with them, deepening its insight into their cares, their courage, and the ghosts that haunt them. The play presents these characters in their own terms—their flaws, their fears, their strengths, their triumphs.