A screening of a recording of the Algerian play “Apples,” performed in English by Algerian theater troupe Istijmam, will be shown at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in Student Building 159. A discussion will follow the screening.
The event, “Staging Cultural Encounters: Algerian Theatre Screening,” is organized by Students for Peace in the Middle East and the Middle Eastern Student Association.
The screening will be accompanied by a catered dinner from Falafels Middle Eastern Grill.
“Apples” was originally written in 1992 by playwright Abdelkader Alloula while the country was in the middle of a civil war after the 1991 election was rejected by a military coup. Alloula was assassinated in 1994.
The play follows a man who is trying to purchase apples, an imported luxury item in Algeria, for his pregnant wife after he loses his job when the factory he was working at vanishes without explanation. The play also discusses marginalization by the state and the search for true democracy.
The theater collective who performed the play, Istijmam, is based in Oran, Algeria. It was chosen by the State Department to tour the United States in fall 2016, accompanied by IU professor of cultural anthropology Jane Goodman. Now, Goodman is writing a book on the troupe’s tour and plans to use elements of Wednesday’s discussion in her book.
