Layan Damanhouri
Saudi Gazette
JEDDAH – ‘Ehkeeli’, or 'tell me' in Arabic, transforms the stage into a nostalgic ride to memories from the past told by a Lebanese grandmother to her granddaughter.
The award-winning show performed on Sunday represents one piece of an ongoing series of cultural events at the US Consulate in Jeddah to strengthen bridges of understanding between the United States and Saudi Arabia.
In a storytelling performance known as the 'Hakawati' tradition, writer and dramatist Leila Buck invites the audience to a recollection of her own life where Arabs of all generations can relate to and outsiders can get an inside view of Arab culture.
An American citizen with Lebanese roots, Buck begins the story from Lebanon in 1940s, a significantly different place than today’s, to migrating to the United States in the mid-1970s away from political turmoil at home, all the way through today’s generation of Arabs all over the world who try to hold on to their cultural roots and traditions.
Addressing universal issues of the millions of immigrants making the United States their new home throughout generations as well as melancholic reminiscences of the mid-20th century Middle East, Buck says her writing serves to facilitate connections that cross political, economic, and cultural boundaries.
In an interactive dialogue, Buck engages with the audience in addressing themes such as Arabic language, food, family matters and folklore music. A loving grandmother and an adoring grandfather show that apart from politics, foreign language and religious labels, they are humans who speak the language of love, spoken to all.
The idea of home, a recurrent theme throughout the performance, emphasizes that the culture and tradition always remain despite the politics and the distances from the homeland. In the words of her grandfather Kamal, “Your country is not your passport” and continues to say it is, in fact, in the mind and heart.
Buck says she aims “to help people see the complexities between cultures that seem very different but at the same time are very connected and similar”.
“That is the heart of my work”, she adds.
In her story, the heart of cultural exchange is explored through individuals’ stories that shape today’s societies.
Moving between the US, Canada, Europe, China and the Middle East, Leila Buck is currently touring different cities in the Arab world to perform Ehkeeli.
Over the past ten years, Buck has been a founding member and Education Director of Nibras Arab-American Theater Collective, Artistic Director of Nisaa Arab-American Women's Collective, and a writer and performer for the New York Arab-American Comedy Festival. She has conducted workshops on playwriting, storytelling and drama for cross-cultural engagement at conferences, universities, schools and cultural centers across the US and around the world.
