“How many other plays combine the power of buzzcuts and biryani into one unapologetically queer story?” asks playwright Lee Nisar in response to why people should come out to see Dil Ka. Ruby Slippers Theatre (RST), in association with Presentation House
Theatre (PHT) and Blackout Art Society, present the world premiere production of Dil Ka, which will be on stage at the Presentation House Theatre in North Vancouver from March 22 – 31, 2024.
Centering on a queer Muslim woman stepping into her truth, power, and heart, Dil Ka [‘of the heart’] follows Zahra, a 26-year-old Pakistani woman, as she prepares to meet her latest arranged match for marriage. Zahra spends most of the play in her family’s kitchen preparing the traditional Pakistani dish, biryani, to present to the prospective groom’s family. As the story unfolds, the biryani becomes a metaphor for the ingredients that make a “perfect bride.”
“I wanted to pay homage to the kitchen in this play, particularly as a place of solace for brown women for decades. Kitchens have served as places of gossip, connection, and – in this play–confession, allowing for honesty outside of the realms of patriarchy,” explains Nisar. Through direct address as a confessional, Zahra unpacks the complexities of navigating one’s identity in a multicultural society.
Audiences are invited to experience queer brown joy onstage– to laugh, cry, and challenge their perspectives while watching Dil Ka. Nisar set out to write each character as real and varied in their relationships to religion as Muslims often are, despite the media trying to paint them all as a monolith.
“I think it is important, now more than ever, for audiences to be confronted with the beauty of being a queer brown Muslim, and how these identities do not have to be exclusionary but, rather, inform each other in the most incredible ways,” shares Nisar. Dil Ka prompts audiences to reflect on their own experiences of belonging, acceptance, and the pursuit of authenticity in a world that often demands conformity.
Dil Ka is on at Presentation House Theatre from March 22 – 31, 2024 (preview March 21). Tickets are on sale at phtheatre.org/box-office/ or 604-990-3474. For more information and show details, please visit www.phtheatre.org/.
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