Category — Oral Performance

Before beginning the play, I was aware that we were going to see it read aloud. Therefore, I read the play while, in my mind, each character took on a different voice to have a better picture of what I would see in a few day’s time. I had never been to a reading of a play, and it surprised me that this play was set in a part of New York City that was very familiar to me, located only a short distance from my neighborhood. While reading the play, I was able to understand all of the jokes, comments and stereotypes described about Brooklyn. In reality, the play was unlike anything I had read before.

The play is, in a way, shocking and definitely has the ability to provoke a response. I found our discussion in class to have brought up many questions that I had previously not given a thought to, which were then answered by Stephen Garcia, the writer of the play at the end of the reading.

I had not expected the reading to be so powerful. Somehow, when I found out that we were attending a reading of the play, the word “reading” downplayed my expectations. I was pleasantly surprised. The actors’ facial expressions, emotion-filled voices, and gestures allowed the members of the audience to become immersed in the play and thoroughly forget where they were located at the time. I enjoyed following the progression of the play live more-so than I did while reading it at home, because even though there was no setting created and the actors were simply reading the play, it came alive before your very eyes. I did not, in any way, expect a grown man to portray Little Joe, an eight-year-old innocent young boy, so well. Furthermore, I didn’t expect any of the actors to depict their respectable characters so well because, once the question and answer portion of the night began, it seemed as if you were broken away from  a dream and these weren’t the characters in front of you, but simply the adults or students who had played them. You were suddenly taken out of the trance.

The plot was very unique in my eyes and the actors were able to provoke reactions from the audience that Mr. Garcia had intended while writing the play. I definitely enjoyed the reading and will definitely keep my eyes open for similar events throughout the city in the future.

The stage reading of “Mohammed’s Radio” was an incredible personal experience. It also emphasizes the importance of actors in bringing a play to life. I read the play prior to watching it, and at first, wasn’t all that emotionally affected by the plot. However, the performers were able to change my mind completely. The performers were able to give a voice to the characters, bring them to life, get so emotionally invested in them that it was difficult to differentiate the performer from the character.

Watching the staged reading of the play, I was immersed in the play, sometimes creating scenes in my own head of a particular moment of the play. This was different from when I read it by myself. Reading alone tended to be more of a hassle, an assignment where the goal was to not enjoy the play, but to finish reading the play. Therefore, it was harder to really get into the play and truly understand the characters. But watching the actors and actresses, full of enthusiasm, I really enjoyed the play as they were able to give the characters in the play a personality so realistic that I felt like I personally knew some of the characters.

Mohammad’s Radio was different than other plays from what I was able to see. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to stay for the whole thing, but I stayed for most of it! I was hoping that the end would come sooner because I really wanted to see how they would show the unseen rape scene and the suffocating of the father. Those two intense scenes would’ve been great to see and judge.

However, from what I saw, I did prefer to read the play than to watch it. I am obviously no expert in anyway, but there were certain things that could’ve been altered (character wise) in the play. The major problem I had was that, they didn’t let the daughter talk. She had plenty of time to defend herself even if she was being passive. If this was intentional, I don’t think the daughter was developed enough as a character to do that. All we know is that she’s a teenager who changes her style a lot. I feel like they didn’t do this so teenagers could relate to her and so the audience can understand what she was going through, but it didn’t pull through. I didn’t feel too much sympathy for her for this reason. Then I feel like the mother’s overwhelming attitude was too exaggerated. It was obvious that she was having trouble choosing between her husband and father. If the production is going to do a play on an Irish-Catholic girl becoming Muslim, then yes, show how society is overbearing and wants this change to end, BUT they are making the daughter look like a hero because the mother is too exaggerated. However, if they wanted us to not like her than it is ok, but at the same time there was no development with her character besides her killing her husband.

I think the reason why I can’t really convey what I disliked about the play was because there was really no character development. Honestly, I didn’t think the main character went through this development, the mother obviously didn’t because she is still her obtrusive self, her father didn’t, and not even my two favorite characters the sister and little Joe. I believe this mostly has to do with is the time, how time skips in this play. I like it, but there were times where it wasn’t necessary.

Fortunately, if this would ever to become a big production, I would love to see what changes they do on a bigger stage! It’s a very interesting story and I can’t wait to see it.

In the case of “Mohammed’s Radio,” my reception of the play on paper differed greatly between having read and seen a staged reading of the play. Whether this be a consequence of the skill of the actors, or simply giving a human face and voice to black ink on white paper, the play shook me deeper and more profoundly than have many other plays. Even though stage acting was not involved, it was made clear very quickly that the actors where wholly invested in their characters. In a way that I have never thought I would experience a reading of a play, I felt invested in the play, so much so that my blood boiled when a “punch” or “bottle” was thrown; my mind raced to overcome challenges faced by the characters, even though I had never had to answer the call to defend a faith to which I have willingly handed my heart and mind.

In the case of Kelly, my opinion that her faith was true holds. The question of whether people act for the wrong reasons is most difficult to answer in a religious context. Faith, in many cases, is no joking matter, and neither are the circumstances that drove Kelly to covert to Islam. I do believe that she chose to covert willingly, but that her circumstances would ultimately decide how much of that faith she would retain. In addition, getting to hear the playwright’s own take was helpful in answering questions that may not have been satisfied until completing a second or even third reading of the script.

I am a far more visual learner, which may be the reason why seeing and hearing the play read out loud by the actors both forced me to interact with issues that – for most westerners – have been kept behind a television screen. The reading only further intrenched the ideas that I had about the nature of each character in my mind, especially in the case of Kelly. Reading the script birthed these feelings and thoughts in me, but experiencing the staged reading meant that these sentiments of mine now had a time and place to exert themselves.

Fantastic play. Invested actors. A devoted director. The stage was set, and so “play” was pressed.

When I first read through the play, I have to admit I thought parts of it were a bit cliche and unrealistic. I thought that many parts of it wouldn’t translate well into a performance, but I was pleasantly surprised. I thought the actors were pretty good. I especially enjoyed the girl who played Kelly. I thought she was really powerful and grabbed everyone’s attention when she spoke. The play definitely did a good job of touching on feminism in a kind of unconventional way–by dealing with Islamophobia, women’s rights in religion, and the normal expectations held of females in small-town settings. Although set in a small neighborhood, it dealt with world-wide issues that I think are really important to address, which the play did a good job of addressing.