Showing results by narrator "Pej Vahdat" in All Categories

It is 1995, and Anvar Faris is a restless, rebellious, and sharp-tongued boy doing his best to grow up in Karachi, Pakistan. As fundamentalism takes root within the social order and the zealots next door attempt to make Islam great again, his family decides, not quite unanimously, to start life over in California. Ironically, Anvar's deeply devout mother and his model-Muslim brother adjust easily to life in America, while his fun-loving father can't find anyone he relates to. For his part, Anvar fully commits to being a bad Muslim.

In this darkly comic, poignant, and at times surreal play, two couples in Tunisia—one Muslim and one Jewish—share a deep and complicated friendship before the German takeover of their country in World War 2. Now under a brutal regime, they face the truth about their long-simmering feelings about friendship and romance as they struggle to save themselves from a Nazi commandant—named Grandma.

Elias Aboujaoude’s distinctive exploration of leadership provides unusual insight into understanding who should and should not be striving for leadership positions. Dr. Aboujaoude takes on the culture at large, explaining how our cult-like obsession with leadership gives narcissists an edge and results in leadership failure everywhere we look—and how resisting the imperative to rise at all costs can leave many with an inferiority complex.