On March 29^th, An-Najah National University organized an American play with a Palestinian vision titled “Passages of Martin Luther King” which was performed by a number of Palestinian and American actors at the Prince Turki Bin Abdul Aziz Theater at the New Campus. The Play told the story of a number of characters who lived in the 1960s and spoke mainly about the events and people’s demands that took place at that time. The Play was sponsored by the United States Consulate General in Jerusalem and produced by the Palestinian National Theater.

The play is originally an American one written by Clayborne Carson, an African American professor of history at Stanford University and Director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. , Research and Education Institute and was directed by Kamel El-Basha. The play featured eight Palestinian actors who portrayed Martin King, his parents, his wife Coretta and other historical figures such as Malcolm X and President John F. Kennedy. Six American singers also participated in the production and performing church and freedom songs that are associated with King’s life.

The play primarily depicted King’s calls for freedom, human rights, social justice, equality and the elimination of racial discrimination between the white and the black. Through a comic style, the play linked between the past, during Martin Luther’s life, when people used to express their demands using non-violent means and the present situation in the Arab world where people are seeking to achieve their freedom and reclaim their rights. The actors have used many slogans to express their ideas such as “The people want…………” and “Freedom”.

The play has also revealed that great events do not necessarily have to start by great people or officials but through ordinary ones, through the oppressed and poor nations who seek to achieve their natural rights. This is what happened in the Arab world lately when people started the revolutions in the region demanding their rights and freedom from oppression, poverty and seeking social justice.

The play’s director was able to mix between the original text of Carson and the Palestinian reality through addressing the reality of the characters themselves. Carson on his part said after the first performance of the play in Jerusalem that writing the play came to him as a result of his deep belief in the Africans experience in fighting oppression non-violently which made their ideas globally recognized and respected. He added that the Palestinians’ struggle to gain freedom reflects a unique image of the non-violent means used to stand in the face of occupation and injustice.

El-Basha said that this play was made to describe the life of one of the most famous and internationally recognized pioneer of non-violent resistance who is considered also the youngest of the Nobel Prize winners. He described Martin Luther as a strong struggler who refused all forms of racial discrimination and used non-violent means to achieve his goals based on his awareness of his people’s suffering and depending on his Angelic background. El-Basha also explained that this was his first play in which he mixed different dramatic components using documents, songs and video alongside theatrical performance.

United States Consul General in Jerusalem, Daniel Rubinstein, described the play as a unique form of cultural cooperation and exchange which helped spot light on promising Palestinian and American actors who were chosen to retell the story of one of the world’s greatest leaders.  Rubinstein explained that this play has been performed in various parts of the United States over the last years; the first international performance was in China in 2007.

Dr. Sam Alfoqahaa, Acting Director of the Public Relations Department at An-Najah University, described the play as a very expressive and impressive performance for two reasons. The first one is the fact that the play was performed by highly skilled and talented actors; the second reasons is the content of this play in which the actors addressed significant stages in the life of Martin Luther King. Dr. Alfoqahaa also said that what made this play even more influential and impressive was the fact that it successfully highlighted the common cultural similarities between the American people and other nations, such as the Palestinians in terms of the existence of universal superior values such as tolerance, nondiscrimination, refusal of injustice and respect of minorities.

Dr. Ayman Nazzal, Director of the American Studies Resource Center at An-Najah, gave a speech before the performance in which he thanked the U.S. Consulate, represented by Cynthia Harvey, Cultural Attache’ at the U.S. Consulate General, for its interest in supporting such activities at An-Najah and valued its concern with continuing cooperation with the University in the various cultural events.