Leor Benjamin, Ahmed Elewa, Laila Sahir, Amir Shereef, Claudia Veronica Garcia, and Hanen Bouchrit Photo by Aaron Femster

Yes, you know all this–but I lay out that context to tell you how inspiring it is to see Rosette, a play set in the Israeli city of Haifa that tenderly depicts two families who have had to realign their lives to live, in spite of their losses and hardships, with a new normal in the years following those upheavals of 1948. The playwright, William Nour, says that the play is semi-autobiographical. He grew up in Haifa after his Palestinian family was displaced from his family's village, which was razed in the fighting. They were among the Palestinian families who remained in the newly formed state of Israel, far from the community where they had lived for generations. Others from their village fled the land completely, moving into hastily formed refugee camps beyond the borders.

Nour's play, in its world premiere production by New Arab American Theater Works at the Mixed Blood Theatre, depicts two families that made it to Haifa, a seaport on Israel's Mediterranean coast. One family is Muslim and one is Christian. Rosette, who is nominally the central character of the play, is the high school-age daughter of Christian parents. Rosette is, in the context of her place and time, a rebel. For example, she wants a bicycle (considered very unladylike) and she suggests that women should be able to wear trousers. Most notably, she wants to complete high school, go on to college, and become a surgeon. Going to college is no easy matter for any of them: her older brother attends college in Russia because the Israeli colleges give preferential admissions to Jewish youth; for a woman, college is an even greater reach. Rosette's father, Yusef, has an appreciation for his daughter's drive and encourages her. However, to her mother Ida, Rosette is a dreamer, and her dreams must be stamped out. Ida would rather have her think about getting married and having children, as girls are meant to do–oh, but her husband must be a Christian.

That puts the sweet Muslim boy next door, Omar, out of the running. Omar and Rosette have known each other all their lives, as their respective parents are best friends. It is evident that they share an awkward attraction to one another, much as they try to conceal it. Like Rosette, Omar has a rebellious streak. His father Jameel is very hard on Omar, critical of the boy's every move and utterance, but his mother Maryam encourages Jameel to think for himself. In fact, Maryam is the most forward thinking of any of the four adults, and she dispels the stereotyped notion of repressed Islamic women.

In some ways, the 70-minute long one act plays like a double-episode of a sitcom. I mean this in a positive way: the main characters are arranged in two symmetrically composed families, with enough differences among them to generate jokes and create plot points, but with an underlying affection for one another, and a sense of sharing common ground, so that we feel confident their bonds will hold and they will be back for another episode next week.

Rosette has two primary plot lines. There is the tension about a letter that Omar writes to Rosette and hides in her book, expecting her to find it, only to have it intercepted by Ida, who is incensed that Rosette is receiving a "love letter" (though no one has actually read the letter) from the Muslim boy next door, never mind that the Muslim boy's mother is her oldest and best friend. The second plot line relates to the high level of anticipation they all have about Rosette's brother's impending visit back from college in Russia.

These plots address important feelings and events in the lives of family members and are certainly worth dramatizing–but the wondrous thing is to realize that these normal feelings and conflicts are taking place in the context of extraordinarily difficult political and economic circumstances and that, despite the loss of their homes, the humiliation of riding the bus past the ruins of their village on the way to work, and the scant opportunities for advancement and employment, they remain two families with familiar joys and problems. Moreover, featuring two Palestinian families of different faiths, Christian and Muslim, shows us people with such fundamental differences living side by side in peace. That is not to say there are never conflicts–some slight, such as Yusef bewailing the wreckage of the church in their village with only the bell tower left standing, to be rebutted by Jameel who says he should be grateful for the bell tower as the mosque was burned to the ground, and some more critical. But they recognize the bonds that draw them together are stronger than their differences. At least that was when the play was set, decades ago. One can only hope that were the play set in 2024, the same would hold true.

Taous Khazem directs Rosette with a naturalistic feel, creating a sense that we are looking through the windows into the lives of these families. The humor is gentle, drawing on human frailties, simple misunderstandings, and character traits that rub against one another. Though I found myself agreeing, in perspective, with the more modern-thinking of the characters, I liked them all, and saw in all of them the redeeming quality of people trying to live their best lives, based on their understanding of what that means. More serious undercurrents addressing the fact that these six people are refugees and that their lives now are a shadow of the lives they lived before, can be felt, but not in a way that strikes us over the head or draws our attention away from their humanity.

Laila Sahir, as Rosette, creates the play's central focus, a young character with the intelligence and guts to believably set her sights on change. Sahir has a loveliness about her that makes it easy to see why Omar is drawn to her and why her mother, in spite of objections to Rosette's words and deeds, cannot help but reach out to her daughter with affection. Leor Benjamin, as Omar, is well matched with Sahir, as he vacillates between trying to impress her and trying to avoid seeming "too interested" in her; his is an honest depiction of a young man at his stage of life. He is also believably humiliated by the berating of his father, and taking shelter in his mother's love and acceptance.

Claudia Garcia as Ida, Ahmed Elewa as Yusef, Hanen Bouchrit as Maryam, and Amir Shareef as Jameel all give strong performances, each depicting their character's unique qualities and conveying authenticity in playing out the differences in how they relate to their spouse, their child, and their friend. Bouchrit has the benefit of opportunities to be funny as she bandies about her thoughts on loosening the restrictions placed on them by ancient traditions, and she makes the most of these. Garcia admirably conveys Ida's frantic alarm over her daughter's willfulness while still relating to Rosette with loving affection.

Physically, the play is given a simple production, but all elements work well. The different parts of the two families' homes and their outdoor space are creatively delineated by rearrangements of potted plants on stage, along with a few simple set pieces, the set design the work of Orin Herfindel. Costume designer Yafa Nannoun, under the mentorship of Lori Opsai, devised apparel that seems authentic to the play's setting in the not-so-distant past, blending traditional designs with the onset of modern times.

Nat Gilsdorf's lighting conveys changes in mood over the course of the play, while Peter Morrow's sound designs enhance the production, though there are some moments, particularly when actors face away from the audience, that it is difficult to hear every word being spoken. Oudist Tim O'Keefe and percussionist Khaldoun Samman provide musical elements that tie Rosette to its cultural roots.

Rosette is set in a period of strife, with characters who are suffering as a result of that strife, but it ends gently, rather than with a cataclysmic finale. The play might be more gripping if its conflicts burst open in some alarming way. That does not appear to be Nour's intent. Rather, he appears more interested in revealing a life that is carried on, negotiating conflicts as one must without succumbing to defeatism. After all, like the lovable folks in those cheery sitcoms, they need to make it back for another episode.

Rosette, a production by New Arab American Theater Works, runs through October 6, 2024, at Mixed Blood Theatre, 1501 S. Fourth Street, Minneapolis MN. For tickets and information, please visit newarabamericantheaterworks.org.

Playwright: William Nour; Director: Taous Khazem; Set Design: Orin Herfindel; Costume Design: Yafa Nannoun; Costume Design Mentor: Lori Opsai; Lighting Design: Nat Gilsdorf; Sound Design: Peter Morrow; Fight Choreography: The Fake Fighting Company; Oudist: Tim O'Keefe; Percussionist: Khaldoun Samman; Stage Manager: Gianna Haseman; Assistant Stage Manager: Emma Swain.

Cast: Leor Benjamin (Omar), Hanen Bouchrit (Maryam), Ahmed Elewa (Yusef), Claudia Garcia (Ida), Laila Sahir (Rosette), Amir Shareef (Jameel).