'Motherland': Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a test of 'truth'
The truth will set you free. It's a favorite expression, soothing in a world where doubt is among our greatest enemies. We take "facts" at face value because it's uncomfortable not to, and we almost always forget to ask, "Which truth?" Which truth will set us free, and are there others that might enslave us despite attempts to break their chains?
The truth will set you free. It's a favorite expression, soothing in a world where doubt is among our greatest enemies. We take "facts" at face value because it's uncomfortable not to, and we almost always forget to ask, "Which truth?" Which truth will set us free, and are there others that might enslave us despite attempts to break their chains?
These are the questions playwright Emily Acker probes in I Am Not My Motherland, her first full-length stage production, presented by Orbiter 3 at St. Stephen's Theater. The play uses the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a case study through which to explore storytelling with all its deception and egotism. The disturbing results raise the question: How many family sagas whispered at bedtime have been distorted by pride or conscience? Whom can we trust, if not the people we love?
In 75 minutes, I Am Not My Motherland unveils the heavy implications of the stories inherited by generations, as doctors botch a surgery over tensions bubbling from decades past. Amina Leroy (portrayed by the dynamic Isabella Sazak) is a competent if cold Palestinian American surgeon who specialized in oncology so she could play God when lives hung in the balance. Jessica Rosel (Hannah Gold), an Israeli American medical resident, has all the warmth and bedside manner that Leroy lacks. Their patient is the sexist but jovial Irving Miller (Brian Anthony Wilson), who has been diagnosed with kidney cancer. At times, especially at the beginning, the action is overwrought, but it pulls together powerfully.
Each scene repeats itself more than once - sometimes consecutively, other times sporadically - to represent the characters' perspectives and how they interpret the string of events that leads to a lethal mistake. Interspersed flashbacks reveal the origins of their antagonisms, as an Israeli army medic and a young Palestinian girl share a hiding place during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The medic is Jessica's grandfather, and the girl Amina's mother, or so it seems. At the very least, both relations had similar experiences in 1948, and each passed down versions of what happened that align in context but differ drastically in message.
The result shines a strobe light on what we call reality, dissecting all its layers to find the tumor. Jessica's grandfather lied once to protect his reputation, so what else did he sugarcoat? Amina's mother died mentally unstable; was she ever lucid? Are we rooting for Jessica's construction of the story because she's more engaging? What does that say about us, to lean toward her "truth" because it's prettier and we like the person telling it?
There is but one conclusion: Our personal versions of truth are fictions, and we apologize for the inconsequential things in our lives because we can't remedy the atrocities our people perpetrated in the past, regardless of the sides they took. Nor do we always want to say "sorry" or mean it when it matters the most. Sometimes, ignorance feels better because freedom lies on the right side of history, a space where not all truths can fit.
"I Am Not My Motherland." Through July 31 at Lantern Theater Company's St. Stephen's Theater, 923 Ludlow St. Tickets: general $20, senior $15. Information: www.orbiter3.org.
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