Unveiled

Theatre Project Dec. 2 and 3 at 8 p.m. and Dec. 4 at 2 p.m.

For more information, visit theatreproject.org.

Unveiled, a one-woman show by Chicago-based playwright and actress Rohina Malik, introduces characters one doesn’t often see on the American stage: Muslim women. There are five of them, all but one American: a Pakistani seamstress, a Moroccan-American lawyer, an African-American “revert” (the character prefers the term to “convert”), a South Asian rapper, and a Middle Eastern restaurant owner. Each delivers a monologue—at times embellished with music, dance, and supporting characters—while serving a type of tea favored in one region or another of the Muslim world.

Malik, who is Muslim herself and of South Asian heritage, says she intends for the play to be a chance for people to learn about the complexity and diversity within the Muslim community without feeling they are attending a lecture. “Though it may sound like it is a serious play, there’s a lot of humor,” she says. “Humor’s really great at making people relax and enjoy their time.”

Judging by the response, the play comes off as more engaging than didactic. Unveiled has received one glowing review after another since its premiere in 2009. Among the accolades: The Chicago Tribune called it “intellectually engrossing” and Chicago Reader dubbed it “riveting.” Malik has been invited to perform at theaters, universities, and high schools across North America; after Unveiled premiered, she was given a one-year residency by Chicago’s prestigious Goodman Theatre to work on a new commissioned play. (This one, The Mecca Tales, is “a sort of Islamic Canterbury Tales,” she says.)

Rohina Malik was tending to several of her four kids who were home sick from school when City Paper caught up with her by phone.

City Paper: So what prompted you to write this play?

Rohina Malik: First, I wanted to sort of share who the Muslim community was, because I think in many ways the images we see in the media do not at all represent me or my community. Those negative images create negative stereotypes, so I wanted—as a Muslim woman who is a part of the American Muslim community—to create these five women. They really represent women that I know and that I love. . . . I think people get stuck on certain regions in the world such as Afghanistan and the Taliban, and granted, that’s a real situation with real problems, but it certainly doesn’t represent the entire Muslim world.

CP: The characters are all very different from one another.

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