The Harmony
Written by Muhammad Ammar
Directed by Muhammad Ammar & Cadence Rose
October 13-14, 2023
Margot Tenney Theatre, Bennington College
The Harmony is an adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s short story, The Lottery, set in a not-so-distant dystopian society where digital surveillance and censorship have created an atmosphere of violence. In a world where the internet is policed either by the government through mandated lynching rituals or by the military through targeted mob assassinations, we follow the lives of two families through the eyes of two six-year old children whose normalcy and childhood innocence is uprooted by the violence of their reality crashing down upon them.
Violence as Usual
Written and Performed by Muhammad Ammar
May 28, 2023
Margot Tenney Theatre, Bennington College
Growing up in a post-9/11 Pakistan, there was a lot happening around me. Unable to comprehend the abnormality of it all, Violence as Usual attempts to depict these turbulent times in Pakistan through the eyes of a 6-year old, a 13-year old, and a 17-year old version of myself. Reliving memories of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, the APS Peshawar school shooting, and the hearing of an international terrorism case as an intern at the Deputy Commissioner’s Office, I focus on all the small ways in which violence grips the life of children across the Global South.
786
Translated/Adapted by Muhammad Ammar from the 2018 feature film “Hamid”
Directed by Muhammad Ammar & Samuel de Sousa de Abreu
May 13-14, 2022
Margot Tenney Theatre, Bennington College
786 revolves around the story of a seven year-old Muslim boy named Hamid who finds himself desperately searching for his missing father in occupied Kashmir. Frustrated at his mother’s response that his father has gone to Allah, young Hamid decides to sort things out with Allah himself. He repeatedly attempts to call Allah’s phone number to ask Him where his father went — until one day, he reaches a hardened Army officer deployed in the valley to enforce the state’s occupation. A series of heartbreaking conversations ensue, as the Army officer plays along and talks to this young boy who channels his curiosity — and frustration — at the voice at the end of the line: God.
Muhammad Ammar 