5 questions with “These walls” playwright, salma elwy
We sat down with South Jersey native and author of These Walls , Salma Elwy, to find out what this play means for her and how it navigates the complex emotions of identity, grief, heritage, and love, that come with intergenerational experiences.
About The Play : Two stories told two decades apart, These Walls is about a mother and daughter who grapple with their identities and loneliness during pivotal moments in each of their lives. In the present day, struggling to come to terms with a sudden death, Layla moves into her mother's childhood bedroom and grows increasingly hysterical trying to uncover pieces of who her mom once was. Meanwhile, in 1999, Nadine, Layla’s mother, is desperate to grow up and get away from her traditional Arab-immigrant parents, but an unplanned pregnancy changes everything.
In a world where we don’t get to see or hear many stories written by or about Arab-Immigrants in mainstream media, where do you draw your inspiration from?
It's unfortunate that Arab Immigrant stories aren't being told as frequently as they should be, and one thing I intended to do when writing These Walls was to at least make a small dent in changing that. I think it's important to show that stories surrounding Arab-Americans don't always have to be sensationalized tragedies, and I'm passionate about creating those stories- ones that feature Arab people navigating emotional, complex, universally human experiences. They don't get told often enough.
At the beginning of your play, you quote Layla and Majnun by Nizami Ganjavi. What was the motivation behind using this Arabic tale to set the tone of your play?
I read Layla and Majnun for the first time while writing this play, and I was inspired by the timeless poem enough to name a character after it. While Nizami Ganjavi tells a very different story in Layla and Majnun, it resonated with Layla and Nadine's story for me because it captures the intense, deep love I found in their relationship. Majnun goes "crazy" with romantic love for Layla in the poem, but I think death can conjure that same intense feeling, too. Specifically, the passage quoted in the script captures how just simply being present in the home of a loved one can make you feel connected to them.
Why is These Walls relevant today?
Although I wrote the first draft of These Walls two years ago, it has only since gotten more relevant in my opinion. Just in the past year, we've gotten new films like Encanto and Turning Red- animated movies about the relational dynamics in immigrant and ethnic families. Considering the success of both these movies, this kind of honest representation that encourages conversations about intergenerational trauma experienced by people of color (specifically women) is more relevant than ever today.
What thoughts or questions are you hoping the audience will leave with after hearing your play?
I hope audiences leave this reading feeling open and willing to have difficult conversations with their loved ones. Much of the tension in the story comes from miscommunication, clashing beliefs, and the things left unsaid. The characters in These Walls are all trying to show their love the best they know how, but pride and personal reservations keep getting in the way. If the audience can see themselves and their families in this story, maybe they'll be able to understand and hear each other more deeply afterwards. That's what I'm hoping for.
After this reading, what are your hopes for the future of this piece?
I would love to continue developing this story and eventually get it published. Every time I revisit this script, I find more to add to it. I don't think Layla and Nadine's story is finished just yet, so I'm eager to get some perspective from this reading and see where else it can go. Seeing These Walls in a fully-staged production someday would be amazing!
Eagle Theatre is proud to present the New Works Development Series with a FREE staged reading of These Walls as a part of the New Jersey Theatre Alliance 2022 Stages Festival on Sunday, April 3rd @ 6PM.
Tickets to this event are free, but you can reserve them online in advance here.
Each member of your party aged 12 or older must bring proof of vaccination* OR provide a negative COVID test. The preferred type of test is a PCR lab test, which will be accepted if results are received within 72 hours of a performance. Negative antigen tests will also be accepted if taken within 6 hours, and with sufficient evidence to prove the test has been proctored or overseen by a third-party.
The New Jersey Theatre Alliance 2022 Stages Festival is made possible by support from the New Jersey State Council of the Arts, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts; Bank of America; The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey; OceanFirst Foundation; New Jersey Historical Commision. www.njtheatrealliance.org/stages.
