Yussef El Guindi: Playwright ZOOMs in with Theatre Department

By: Noran Alaa Morsi

@noranmorsi

 

Despite the online shift, the Theatre Department has managed to sustain activities for its students initially, with the Playwriting Bake-off, and most recently with an online masterclass with Egyptian-American Playwright and alumnus Yussef El Guindi.

The masterclass was open to a limited number of Theatre majors and minors, as well as students who were part of the postponed Spring productions, via a Zoom video. 

The masterclass was centered on one of El Guindi’s plays – Pilgrims Musa and Sheri in the New World, which he wrote in 2014 – as well as his artistic background, the playwriting experience and his choice to work outside Egypt.

“There’s something you can’t teach; the voice of the writer. Students, their voice would just kick in and you would think – there it is,” El Guindi, who graduated from AUC in 1982, said on identifying a playwriting style.

El Guindi, who became an American citizen in 1996, said he wrote his first ‘American’ story in 1990 – a type of story he would continue to write many of.

Pilgrims Musa & Sheri in the New World is about an Egyptian immigrant tangled between his Muslim fiancée and an American waitress he meets on the job as a taxi driver. 

“In writing about the immigrant experience I was writing about a much larger experience,” he said.

“Sometimes we meet people to lead us where we need to be,” El Guindi said of the play’s plot.

Reading the play spurred questions in the students about El Guindi’s heavy use of stage directions, how he feels about writing about other people’s cultural experiences, and on catering for a certain audience.

“It gets problematic when the oriental becomes reductive..but I write for an American audience and I try not to censor myself. I’d like to think the work I do is in effort to not perpetuate those stereotypes by creating three dimensional characters,” he said.

El Guindi said that there were many paths he could have taken, and he somewhat regrets not being born and raised in Egypt; he believes that Egypt is rich in stories to mine, as well as wealth and language.

“You have to present your work. You’re all very lucky to be artists in Egypt,” he told the group of students.

Theatre Department Director Jillian Campana, who hosted the event, said that she felt an engagement like this was necessary after several activities and events had been canceled. 

“I think many students are craving the connections and missing the critical discussions that used to take place outside of the classroom,” Campana said.

She reached out to El Guindi to see if he had time to offer a masterclass/discussion on playwriting and to share the story of his journey from AUC to working as a professional playwright in the US. 

“He and I have been talking about doing something like this for awhile and the timing was right. We were both impressed with the questions students asked and ideas and thoughts they offered,” she added.

Political Science and History Senior Yasmine Haggag thought the event was a relevant opportunity for her a a Theatre minor who was also involved with the Playwriting Bake-off.

“He was incredibly sweet and welcomed all our questions both about his play and about the theatre industry itself. I went into this feeling a little intimidated and came out of it feeling super encouraged to write, which is something really new to me,” Haggag said.

She added that while the situation isn’t ideal for theatre lovers at the moment, there’s always a way to promote what the students do. 

“When there’s a will, there’s a way. Take the Bake Off for example. We received over 30 plays submitted in just 48 hours. People are dying to get their creative energy out and all we have to do is provide the outlet through challenges like that,” she added.