Jennifer Jajeh’s critically acclaimed one-woman show, I Heart Hamas and Other Things I am Afraid to Tell You, pulls no punches. From a Ramallah Convention in San Francisco in the 1980s, to casting lines in contemporary Los Angeles, to the front lines of the Israeli occupation and back, Jajeh navigates the complicated and often conflicted terrain of Palestinian identity. Despite the complexity, her journey is anchored by her sole quest to find her own sense of self amidst the noise. This quest supersedes the politics, the expectations and the backlash that a Palestinian identity can carry and becomes universal.
“I state very clearly in the show’s opening voiceover that “I am not presenting the views or feeling of the average Palestinian, nor do I have any idea what that even means.” I felt it was important to put forth very clearly this notion: that there is no prototypical Palestinian. And, that identity is a hell of a lot more complex and individual, and that this story is being told through the lens of a very specific, individual experience. The first part of the show talks about me carrying the weight of other people’s expectations around my Palestinian identity, feeling squeezed from all sides by these expectations and dealing with people’s often negative, stereotypically racist and completely hilarious reactions to how I actually do express that identity.” Full article.