Didn’t see that third one coming, did you? Me neither. I’ll admit, there are certain taglines or catchphrases that seem timeless. “Got milk?” is one that lends itself nicely to variations. And the “I heart (or I love…)” may be even more timeless. It’s certainly provocative. I don’t know many people that would proclaim to love what the U.S. considers a “terrorist organization.”
But love is what Jennifer Jajeh proclaims in the title of her tragicomedy-solo-show called “I Heart Hamas: And Other Things I’m Afraid to Tell You.” The show, called “a fascinating look into a world we don’t often see or hear about” by NYTheatre.com, came to my neighbor, the University of Pittsburgh a few days ago. The backstory, briefly: Jajeh is, according to her website, a “single, Christian, first generation, Palestinian American woman who chooses to return to her parents’ hometown of Ramallah at the start of the Second Intifada.”
Her play is simply her story, and that’s all it’s claiming to be. Now, the disclaimer: I didn’t see the show. I was learning about India for the entire weekend, in a joint class between Carnegie Mellon and Pitt, which is just to say that I missed Jajeh’s entertaining journey through bad dates, auditions, military checkpoints and more.
But luckily, the Pitt News covered the story here, and in a nice way — we get perspectives from both sides, something that doesn’t seem to be present in Jajeh’s story (and why would it be? It’s a one-woman show). Still, the nature of the show’s title raises some big questions for me — how does the content fit in with the provocative title of this show? What are Jajeh’s true feelings toward Hamas? How does her heritage as a Christian fit into the conflict in the Middle East?
