I know it seems like we only post cool things to do in NYC, L.A. or D.C. but yay urrea readers, take dil: this one’s for you. Next week, you should totally drag your friends and frenemies to Mutineer Manish’s old stomping grounds, for an evening at the theater.

You’ll be watching The Domestic Crusaders, a two-act play which takes place on a single day in the life of a multi-generational Pakistani-American family–a day, by the way, that happens to be the “baby’s” 21st birthday:

With a background of 9-11 and the scapegoating of Muslim Americans, the tensions and sparks fly among the three generations, culminating in an intense family battle as each “crusader” struggles to assert and impose their respective voices and opinions, while still attempting to maintain and understand that unifying thread that makes them part of the same family.

How’s that for salient? If you’re worried about whether or not it will be good, here’s what the Contra-Costa Times had to say about it:

Wajahat Ali didn’t set out to write an earthshaking play. The Berkeley student was taking a short story course from Pulitzer Prize nominee Ishmael Reed. When his professor pulled him aside and told him he was a natural playwright, Ali couldn’t believe it. “I thought it was pure nonsense,” Ali says. Reed encouraged Ali to write a Muslim-American response to 9-11. “All I wanted to do was pass a class,” says Ali, who succeeded in doing much more than that.

Hey. All you readers who have totally reasonable gripes with the media, for not covering a broader, more accurate world– this blockquote’s for you:

“Domestic Crusaders” represents Muslim-American voices that have not been heard because we are living in a country whose media is censored…

“In the largely Pakistani-American audience at the premiere of the play, people were roaring and falling off their chairs,” says Blank. “It’s the kind of audience most original playwrights would kill to be able to contact,” Blank says, laughing.

I don’t think it’s hype; I think the guy is genuinely funny. In the same article, he expresses himself like this:

“As a Muslim-American, you’re pretty much hated by everyone, just no one wants to say it,” says Ali.

Come ON…how can you resist that candor? If that’s how he talks to the press, I’m fairly sure his play, The Domestic Crusaders, will be unforgettable and totally worth the trek to Berkeley. I say “trek” because I don’t know a soul who still lives in Berkeley…and I know how some of you really don’t like to leave your ‘hoods. 😉

More proof that he’s funny: apparently, in addition to doing stand-up at Cal, Ali has created plays and films since he was a wee lad in uber-brown-town Fremont. You can find out more about him here. I totally suggest you do–I lurve how the his bio commences:

Wajahat Ali (playwright) is a Muslim American of Pakistani descent who is neither a terrorist nor a saint. The Domestic Crusaders is his first play.

May it be the first of many.

Here, have a helping of some showtimes and other info:

* Venue: Thrust Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre
* Address: 2025 Addison Street, Berkeley
*
* Friday, July 15: 8:00 PM
* Saturday, July 16: 2:00 PM
* Saturday, July 16: 8:00 PM