The Making of KEFFIYEH / MADE IN CHINA by Mona Kasra
As the covid-19 pandemic challenged the world of theatre, artists have continued to seek new and inventive ways to connect to audiences. Rethinking production processes and experimenting with digital technologies have led theater-makers to new possibilities for novel, hybrid, and unconventional approaches to storytelling. The ability to work remotely from anywhere, outside the rigid timelines and structures of traditional theatrical productions, has also opened doors to new collaborative possibilities.
In January 2021, Adam Kassim (director) and I (production designer and media artist) began a new collaborative journey, Keffiyeh / Made in China, along with a small but wonderful production team and cast members at Mosaic Theater Company. Our goal was to revive several short and conceptually interrelated vignettes of this timely and important play by blending theatre, digital storytelling, and filmmaking. Written by Palestinian Playwright Dalia Taha, Keffiyeh/ Made In China presented a perfect ground for a hybrid production by crossing between the stage and the screen amidst an unprecedented global health pandemic. In the end, a total of seven vignettes were produced, filmed, and released online as separate episodes every two weeks from May to August 2021.
The play captures the impact of war, violence, and occupation on the daily lives of ordinary civilians. Each vignette presents yet another intimate and fragile state, and the fast-paced, scattered, and often cyclical dialogues manifest the difficulties surrounding communication when one lives in a state of trauma, loss, or continuous conflict. Either as parents, sisters, lovers, or strangers, the play’s characters represent grief, anger, sadness, happiness, and hope all at once. They are dynamic, frazzled, and painfully human.
Taha's work profoundly resonates with both Adam and I on a personal level. Adam is Palestinian-American, and I was born and raised in Iran. My childhood was shadowed by the 1979 Islamic revolution and the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, and my adult life continues to be impacted by the Middle East conflict. As a result, the characters of Keffiyeh/ Made In China convey a sense of vulnerability and resilience that's familiar to me. I recognize their desire to cling to normalcy in the middle of chaos or to escape painful or distressing thoughts, memories, and feelings.
Our first meetings and workshops for this project heavily focused on dramaturgical analysis and developing directorial and design concepts for each individual scene as well as the entire piece. We ultimately used the playwright’s mind as the main narrative framework. The female playwright is ever-present in the script and especially in 60 Seconds, the first episode we released from the series, and the characters refer to and question her directly in several instances. In this way, Taha continuously reminds the audience that the stories and characters arise from the writer's imagination, curiosities, and experiences.
Accordingly, we begin each episode with a shot from the playwright’s point of view as she enters an empty black theater dimly lit by a single “ghost light” in the middle. She walks through the space and toward a small desk in the corner of the room. (Robert Garner designed the soundscape.) As she sits down, the laptop on the desk illuminates, and the episode title appears on the screen in both Arabic and English. The theater space slowly transforms into a new scene and fades into the playwright's imagination…
Alluding to the concrete barrier that walls off Palestinian territories, each episode or individual scene takes place against a gray separating backdrop. I designed this backdrop as a modular set of 12 foot panels to allow us to experiment and rearrange them in various configurations during filming.
The wall on the road to Bethlehem in the West Bank, Courtesy of Wikipedia
The separating background for Keffiyeh / Made in China, courtesy of Mona Kasra.
Following the overall narrative framing and structure, we decided on a minimal set that limits construction overheads and makes for a cohesive visual output. (Adam and I wore different hats throughout the process, including experimental scene design and costume design, which were both new territories for us!) We also set up a few design constraints for the project. For example, the writer's desk and two chairs were the only furniture pieces in the scenes and limited props were occasionally used to indicate a setting or location. Similarly, we established and followed a simple set of color rules for costume pieces. Our goal with these design choices was to focus on the performances and dramatic elements and mix them with visual storytelling and filming conventions.
While Adam held rehearsals with the cast remotely via Zoom, I began the storyboarding process to prepare and plan for film shoots. Film is a visual medium, and storyboarding allows for translating words into images and envisioning the sequential breakdown of each shot. During this phase, we held long, productive meetings to decide on the tone, emotions, movement, and progression of every scene. I then provided detailed information on character staging, camera positioning and angles, type of shot, transitions, and visual and audio effects in each storyboard panel. By using the storyboards, Adam and I were able to easily communicate the vision to each other and the production team.
Storyboard panel for 60 seconds and the final outcome, courtesy of Mona Kasra.
Storyboard panel for Mangoes and the final outcome, courtesy of Mona Kasra.
Storyboard panel for Business and the final outcome, courtesy of Mona Kasra.
Detailed storyboarding not only saves a lot of time on the set but also comes in handy during post-production, especially during the initial round of editing. Editing is an art form in itself and its power should not be overlooked. The editing process provides the opportunity to enhance the narrative by achieving the proper flow, rhythm, pace, and emotion. We therefore aimed to strengthen the emotional impact of the scenes through shot assembly, sound effects, and color grading during the editing process.
Editing panel for The Camera Doesn’t Love Anyone, courtesy of Mona Kasra.
A filming Day at LAB II/ Atlas, courtesy of Mona Kasra.
A filming Day at LAB II/ Atlas, courtesy of Chris Banks.
Creating hybrid projects and crossing between digital media, film and theater is no easy task, especially during a pandemic and while working remotely or under strict social distancing restrictions. As a result, our artistic process, expectations, needs, and timelines had to be continuously revisited and revised. Nevertheless, the hurdles and constraints ultimately led us to an infinite number of innovative and artistic possibilities. Throughout, Mosaic Theater Company not only encouraged and embraced our unconventional, creative, and collaborative approaches but granted us creative autonomy to experiment. I also found a great creative partner in Adam, and I hope we continue to work together on future projects!
In her opening statement, Taha writes, “Theatre is a celebration of fragility, transience, imperfection, collapse, precariousness, unreliability and collision.” I hope that our efforts, process, and outcome foregrounds Taha’s assertion.
Mona Kasra
Associate Professor of Digital Media Design
University of Virginia (UVA)
Featured Actors: Dina Soltan, Sanam Laila Hashemi, Ahmad Kamal, Violet Regan, Fargo Nissim Tbakhi.
Featured Crew: Chris Banks (Production Manager), Chris Wren (Director of Photography), Robert Garner (Sound Technician), Kaylin Luces (Camera Assistant)