Dirty Paki Lingerie
September 5, 2015 by admin
Filed under Latest Lingerie News
Manhattan, Pakistan, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Toronto, London, Turkmenistan, and now Catskill: Aizzah Fatima brings Dirty Paki Lingerie, her globe-hopping one-woman exploration of what is like to be a Muslim, a woman, and an American in today’s culture, to the innovative Bridge Street Theatre this Labor Day weekend for three performances. The 2011 play was lauded then by Backstage for shattering “stereotypes and [forging] new cross cultural understanding . . . as Muslim women talk about gender and sex roles,” while a Toronto publication noted that Fatima creates 26 characters who show “people are people” while weaving together such seeming discordant elements as the symbolism of the hijab as well as “sexting . . . and the mile high club.”
In a brief phone interview as peripatetic as her play, Fatima talked about how Dirty Paki Lingerie has changed in the four years since its opening in Manhattan’s Midtown International Theater Festival and the initial glowing reviews: “It’s changed a lot. There’s a major character, a little girl named Zara, who’s been added, and the staging includes [visual] projections. The biggest change for me has been my mindset: I initially conceived Dirty Paki Lingerie as for non-Muslims, a way to bridge cultures. Now I see my play as equally for Muslims to explore what it is like to be who we are and feminists and Americans.”
Asked about the relevance of a 2011 interview with Dirty Paki Lingerie’s director, Erica Gould, where she stated the play’s goal “is to show a Muslim woman in a headscarf . . . can be a feminist and who can say ‘Oh my God’ . . . that character embodies that cultures can co-exist,” Fatima laughed and responded, “It’s still good as a goal.” Asked what brought Dirty Paki Lingerie to Catskill—an area not noted for its Muslim population, though the Catskill Region’s Islamberg (a Muslim community of about 200) in Hancock, Delaware County, made CBS news July 6 when a Tennessee man was arrested for planning a terrorist attack on the community—Fatima explained that she met Bridge Theater co-founder John Sowle while performing at Stageworks/Hudson’s Play by Play: Rendezvous. Sowle invited her to bring her show to his theater. “I’ll have to look into inviting the people of Islamberg to Dirty Paki Lingerie,” Fatima said with a laugh.
Dirty Paki Lingerie will be performed Friday and Saturday (Sept. 4 and 5) at 7:30 PM and Sunday (Sept. 6) at 2 PM at the Bridge Street Theatre (44 W. Bridge St., Catskill). Tickets are $15, $10 students and seniors. For reservations and info, call 943-3818.
