Aftermath

As US troops withdraw from Irak, the play “Aftermath” is a timely reminder of the long-lasting consequences of American intervention there. Based on testimony provided by Iraqi refugees interviewed in Jordan, the piece intertwines the experiences of eight individuals, but their nightmare is collective and speaks for the horrors and privations endured by the population at large. Bombings, mercenaries, death threats, incarcerations, interrogations and the inevitable road to exile and refugee status: from Fallujah to Abu Ghraib the story is one of American arrogance and might and Iraki fear and mourning. A cross-section of citizens - housewives, translators, imams, doctors, artists, pharmacists, cooks - put a face on Iraqi losses that have nothing to do with military strategy or political maneuvering but rather with wrecked homes, families and dreams. After a critically acclaimed play devised from conversations with pardoned death row inmates, “The Exonerated” (2002), Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen have created a simple and moving piece of theater - sober, restrained with humor and honesty – that gives voice to the stories that CNN doesn’t cover and which risk being forgotten once the US presence is gone completely. Seen October 8 at the Maison des Arts de Créteil.

Photo Credit: Joan Marcus