The Strangest: Blog

I worked as Assistant Director and Dramaturg on Betty Shamieh's The Strangest for HERE Art Center's Culturemart. Researching the world of French-colonized Algeria has been an eye-opening venture. May and I discussed what topics were most important to research during the pre-production process. Before rehearsals started we had already gathered information on the women's movement in Algeria, the political history between France and Algeria, and crimes against women in the country. Once the process started and we began digging deeper into our scene work new questions arose such as customs when greeting each other, eating around the table, torturing of men by the French Police. I left rehearsals with a new list of topics to research and once I found the information I would post it on the website I created and let everyone know what updates had been made to our site. Disseminating the information to the cast and crew has been really fulfilling as we have seen them take the information and churn out some really specific and truthful work. We can't wait to share the play with you all this February 4th and 5th. Below is a selection of information I curated from the website I created of some of my most interesting finds. Thanks for following!

French police officer holding up a metal detector to an Algerian woman - searching for bombs
1960 - These women did not wish to be photographed. They were forced to pose for ID cards which the French government set up for security purposes
Arabic and French quarter footage in 1930's
Algerian National Anthem
A Quiet Revolution in Algeria: Gains by Women in NYT
Family Law at the Crux of Algerian Women's Futures on NPR
History of Algeria
The Cure's Killing an Arab
French postcard of Algeria, early 1900's
Photo from the film, Battle of Algiers