“The culmination of the Stories production is due to the hard work of 33 cast members, producers, directors and a variety of talented and dedicated volunteers. They have all come together to tell the stories of the Ismaili Jamat in the United States of America and our journey over the past six decades.” - Zahra Hayat-Daya, President, Council for Florida, and National Task Force Lead for Arts and Culture
Throughout our community’s history, storytelling has been used as a medium to capture events, record heritage, and preserve culture. This summer, in celebration of Diamond Jubilee, the National Task Force for Arts and Culture is continuing the tradition, but with a twist. Stories: Our American Journey, is a full-scale theatrical production that tells the stories of our community over the past 60 years and brings those stories to life though mesmerizing performing arts such as music, dance, song, and poetry.
The show marked its grand opening on May 26 in Orlando, with well over 1,000 people in attendance. The launch of Stories marks a memorable milestone for our community and is a unique opportunity for our Jamat to gather across all seven regions in celebration of our shared heritage and promising future. The show is focused on our Jamats journey to and progress within America and highlights the community’s resilience and ability to persevere as individuals, families, and communities under the guidance of our Mawlana Hazar Imam. Ultimately, the spotlight ends up shining on our shared ethics of service, collective growth, and contributions to the wider community.
The journey for Stories began some 17 months ago when President Zahra Hayat-Daya first recruited the core team. The initial focus was to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee with a flagship program that showcased the tremendous performing arts talent in our community. However, as the team began to discuss, they realized they had an opportunity to not just showcase performing arts, but to use the arts as a way of expressing our Ismaili American identity. What better way to capture the essence of our community, our journey to America, and our subsequent success here, than through the power of the arts? Thus, Stories was born.
The first step to creating the production was developing an intimate knowledge of our American Ismaili community. Instead of approaching scholars and Jamati leaders, the Stories team made the choice to engage on a personal level with the national Jamat. That choice resulted in a two-month, nationwide effort in the summer of 2017 to collect as many individual stories as possible. As Ashu Meherali Punjani, the national lead for the entire Stories project describes,“We asked Jamati members across the country to submit two-minute videos describing their stories, and the response was overwhelming. We expected 350 to 500 submissions, but ended up with more than 1,100 from Jamati members of all ages and backgrounds!”
With so much raw footage, the emphasis shifted from developing a concept and sourcing materials to actually creating a theatrical production. First, the core team combed through all 1,100 videos to identify the shared themes. What were the common topics that people spoke about? What events, ethics, and beliefs played the most formative roles in our collective identity? The team identified these themes and selected 40 people to come in for professionally recorded video interviews. It was here that Faroukh Virani, a documentary filmmaker, and editor based out of LA, took lead. As the lead interviewer, Faroukh connected with the participants took them back in time and helped them share the authentic and emotionally rich stories that played such a pivotal role in shaping their lives.
The next step in the process was creating a script for a stage show that stayed true to the stories that were shared but brought them to life in creative and highly engaging ways. Samira R. Noorali stepped in as the playwright, and over the course of many months and numerous iterations, put together the script that is now being brought to life on the Stories stage.
Finally, after the script was finalized, the cast and crew had to be selected. While there were hundreds of auditions from across the nation, Samira and co-director Farah Remtulla-Alwani ultimately selected 33 talented individuals to participate in the show. Once selected, each of those cast members put in tremendous effort to attend weekend rehearsals, where individuals such as Rizwan Manji, creative director for Stories, would provide feedback, support, and coaching. In a follow-up conversation, Ashu shared that “across the board, 99% of the commitment given is through volunteer dedication while managing 9-5 jobs. By the time the Stories run is over, the cast will have traveled almost every weekend over a period of six months to take this production to seven cities.”
This long journey culminated with the inaugural Stories performance in Orlando. Sitting in the audience, there was a palpable and shared sense of pride in the caliber of the production and the talent within our community. At times, there was a feeling of astonishment, as the audience realized the level of hidden talent that resides within the Jamat. Across the spectrum, Stories gave a new platform to musicians, dancers, choreographers, documentary editors, writers and production artists in our community.
Perhaps more importantly, Stories resonated with the audience because it was a true reflection of their own experience. It captured the imagination of children, as they reflected on the struggles their parents and grandparents faced. It captured the imagination of the seniors, as they were reminded of the places they called home decades ago. Cast member Saif Sattani from Houston shared his sentiments on the launch of Stories, saying, “Stories is your story, my story, shown through the lens of artists.”
In the audience, senior Jamati member Zarintaj Merchant from Tampa, Florida said: “I was very pleased to see this performance from singing to the dancing; all of it reminded me of my own story and how I moved and came to the United States. I am also pleased that the show focused on our faith. I really connected with this performance and it was a very beautiful show.”
Nida Hemani was awed by the show, saying: “The way the actors portrayed the stories of all those people was just incredible … Stories captured the raw emotions and fears of these people and their journey throughout America. I just can’t believe that Ismailis put this all together and worked so hard to create something so beautiful.”
As inspirational as Orlando was, it was simply a beginning, and people across the country will have a chance to similarly participate. Stories continues its nationwide tour on Saturday, June 9 at the historic Manhattan Centre in New York City. Subsequently, the show continues to Dallas (June 16), Chicago (June 24) and Los Angeles (June 30). Tickets for each of these shows are available now. After a short hiatus for the Diamond Jubilee celebrations in Lisbon, the Stories production will complete its US tour in Atlanta and Houston. If you don’t have a ticket already, get one quickly, before they sell out!
