Talking With... Fajer Al-Kaisi

Lead Actor Playing Ashraf in JIHAD JONES

                                                  & THE KALASHNIKOV BABES

Conducted by Rebecca Wright, InterAct's Literary Director & Dramaturg

InterAct: Can you tell me about your family background?

Fajer Al-Kaisi: Well I was born in Iraq and raised for most of my childhood there and nearby in Kuwait. It’s interesting in that my life experience in my formative years was split pretty much down the middle between mid east and west. Also, the only experience I had had with North America before moving here was through television and films, and old tv and film at that because mid east countries tend to be in a time warp when it comes to that cultural product. So coming out west felt like stepping into a cracked out Matlock episode, except… y’know… nobody died.

Canada was a trip in and of itself. We wound up in Montreal which is a whole ‘nother KIND of Canada: French Canada. So in a way I myself sometimes feel like I’m all three cultures balled up into one, which in America is kind of interesting: Canadian (kind of a joke eh?), French (remember freedom fries?), and Arab (Patriot act: nuff said). When I first got down to Texas where I did my graduate schooling, they didn’t know what the hell to do with me. They thought I looked Mexican and then I opened my mouth and sounded American, told them I was Iraqi but I was from Montreal, and then I’d start busting out some French just for fun. Heads may have exploded.

InterAct: I asked the playwright this question as well: with all the many examples of stereotyped representation of Arabs in popular media, in your opinion, do Americans have a particular prejudicial blind spot in relation to Arabs and Arab-Americans?

Fajer Al-Kaisi: I definitely think it’s a kind of allowed racism now. It’s easy to put that fear and xenophobia in terms of the war on terror, to say that you’re not being racist but that you’re supporting the troops and excuse the behavior that way. People will preface a lot with a disclaimer of tolerance, but the bad vibes still seep out. I’ve encountered a lot of racism and religious zealotry masked as patriotism in that way. One of the things that really got me happened during the presidential campaigns, when John McCain was in a town hall, and in response to shouts of “He’s a Muslim!” John McCain says quite emphatically: “No he’s not a Muslim. He’s a GOOD Family man!” As if being a Muslim excludes you from being a good family man! And it didn’t seem like anyone in the media noticed that at the time. I mean, forget the crazy ‘aluminum foil hat’ idea that President Obama is a Muslim, it’s ludicrous right wing radio propaganda and I commend McCain for shooting it down, but the very idea that being a Muslim could discredit someone, and for that to be generically accepted?? Doesn’t that fly in the face of tolerance and the whole right to believe whatever you want? I tell you what. There will be a gay republican in office before there is a Muslim. I’m pretty sure about that one.

InterAct: If you don’t mind me asking, have you encountered the kind of racial prejudice and stereotyping that Ashraf experiences in JIHAD JONES? Do you identify with Ashraf? If so, in what ways?

Fajer Al-Kaisi: Are you kidding!?? Does a bear shit in the woods? Does the pope wear a funny hat? YES I identify the heck out of Ashraf. But if you need a specific example, travelling tends to be real um… interesting for me… also since my Iraqi citizenship tends to- oh I dunno- STAND OUT… Yeah. That’s it.

Whenever I haven’t shaved for a few days (or weeks), and they play that announcement on the subway about ‘if you see something say something’ I tend to get a few double takes. I’m pretty sure anyway. I could just be paranoid too. But just because I’m paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get me or tapping my phone. (I swear, I hear clicks whenever I speak Arabic.)

In casting sessions, unless they’re just looking for someone ethnically ambiguous (which happens often) I tend to get sent out to portray, at worst, terrorists when they need them and, at best, sleazy criminal types or hot dog vendors or cabbies; either that or the disgustingly wealthy that have the ego to match it. There are exceptions of course, and I look forward to those in a way that actually makes me work as an actor. To keep it in perspective, Latinos and African American Actors faced the same things. Just a few years ago, it was a novelty to see someone ethnic cast as a lawyer or a doctor or even as just your regular everyday guy, and only recently have they been ‘mainstreamed’. That hasn’t really happened for Arab Americans yet. I’m not really surprised by any of it, and I’m not terribly offended anymore. It just makes me sad, and I can’t wait for the day we can get past it.

In the meantime I wouldn’t mind playing ‘the terrorist with the heart of gold who-saves-the-day-in-the-end-while-at-the-same-time-showing-America-a better-more-righteous-path’. I think it’s a niche role I’m right for.

InterAct: Do you feel that there is a dearth of roles available for Arab-American actors?

Fajer Al-Kaisi: I think in a lot of ways, Arab characters are written two-dimensionally these days, either as a generic ‘bad guy’ or henchman, or as a cabbie or a hot dog vendor or on the other end of that – a wealthy Arab playboy oil baron’s son or nephew or whatever - With a few recycled gags consistently thrown in about the sound of our speech or about how we cover our women. What’s really shocking isn’t all the vilifying portrayals of the ‘bad guys’, but the almost absolute lack of any endearing Arab protagonists or genuinely good characters with which an audience can positively identify or sympathize with.

I just thank god for the brave writers out there like Yusef or Naomi Wallace or my good friends Erik Jensen and Jessica Blank. That they are writing pieces that are still true and real and genuine in the midst of all this misinformation is kind of a miracle. I just hope the word gets out there.

InterAct: Have you ever played a role that you felt was stereotyped or reductive?

Fajer Al-Kaisi: Sure. I think it was my first real screen role too. I was in this industrial video that went out in political circles, and it warned about the threat of ‘rogue nuclear warheads’ that could get into the hands of terrorists. Naturally I was cast as the dashing second in command terrorist lieutenant. The acting was of course excellent. Especially when I had to say ‘And so begins Americas Hiroshima!’. That was especially poignant I think. I pretty much got the part because I could speak Arabic over the Persian guy they were gonna go with, who could just kind of intone it. So I’m really glad I went to school for this (sigh).

What’s really messed up is I would rather play the terrorist and play him properly (if he’s written as an Arabic character) than have some Indian or Persian guy or other miscellaneous brown type massacre the language or the dialect and just pass it off as okay. Isn’t that MESSED up?!

InterAct: Is there a particular role that you’ve always dreamed of playing?

Fajer Al-Kaisi: I would LOVE to play an ACTUAL heroic lead in a fantasy adventure or an action adventure. Maybe like the quiet baklava makers apprentice turned deadly silent assassin counter insurgent, but really any hero or heroic figure would be great, refreshing, and it could be from any mythology, but I mean really play the hero, not the sidekick who gets the hero out of trouble once by speaking Arabic to the nomadic savages or by squeezing through a utility shaft or by not eating the poisoned pork or some nonsense. I’ll even settle for an anti hero. When that role exists, I would like to see it go to an Arab actor like yours truly, not Antonio Banderas. Just putting that out there.

Come to think of it, Gilgamesh would be amazing and epic on the big screen. I would love to play that. I’ve also been reading a lot of Christopher Moore. I think his stuff would make some incredible adaptations. I would love to play Biff from his book ‘Lamb’ and still be a Middle Eastern character.

InterAct: Thanks, Fajer.

THE 2008/2009 SEASON

Introduction

The War Party

The Rant

Jihad Jones...

Purchasing Tickets

About The Play

Running Time

The Playwright

Playwright Interview

Lead Actor Interview

The Director

The Cast & Crew

NNPN

Talk-Backs

Calendar

Little Lamb

Writing Aloud

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