Disgraced Is a Powerful Play With Deep Cultural Relevance

SARASOTA – In the Asolo Rep's production of Ayad Akhtar's 2014 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Disgraced, local theater fans have the opportunity to see a recent, critically-acclaimed Broadway play in a first-rate, local production. More importantly, they will be invited to think both critically and honestly about an ever-important issue in our society.

Amir Kapoor is a Muslim-American lawyer who has worked hard to achieve the American Dream, biting his tongue and minding his tenuous station as even an apostate Muslim in a post 9/11 world. He has a successful career, a beautiful American wife, a stunning Manhattan apartment with a skyline view and is on the verge of making partner at one of the most venerable firms in the city.

All of that changes when his nephew pushes him to passively help out a local imam who has been accused of funneling donation money to terrorists. Well-aware of the importance of perception and the low tolerance for any sort of controversy that relates to such matters by the partners at his firm, Amir resists but is prodded by his wife, Emily, a visual artist with something of a fetish toward Islamic tradition.

A misleading story in The New York Times that overstates Amir's involvement and portrays him as defending the imam–while naming his firm–sets in motion a series of events that derails his upward trajectory and sees everything he's worked for, including his marriage, begin to fall apart.

Broadway veteran Dorien Makhloghi is riveting as Amir. His gripping performance takes the audience down a spiraling descent that is so intense one might feel signs of vertigo as they rise in ovation. Lee Stark, who originated the role of Emily at the American Theater Company's world premiere of Disgraced, inhabits the character with striking realism.

Bianca Jones, who recently performed in King Lear at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, also gives a very strong performance as Jory, a fierce character who balances Amir's anger with measured intensity. Nik Sadhnani, who is in the new Hulu series The Path, does a solid job as Amir's nephew Abe, a Muslim-American twenty-something being pushed toward extremism by the city's Islamophobia.

Perhaps most impressive, all things considered, is the powerful performance of third-year FSU/Asolo Conservatory student Jordan Ben Sobel as Jory's Jewish husband, Isaac. Sobel, who has given several noteworthy performances for both Asolo Rep and the Conservatory, manages to not only hold his own with the venerable cast of more experienced actors; he shines in every scene.

Disgraced is a timely play to say the least. In fact, as I watched Saturday night's second performance, I couldn't help thinking that there were several subjects that could have been plumed directly from my regular political column earlier that week. What struck me as most impressive about the script was Akhtar's brutal honesty. The characters, who are real and flawed, embody the true cross-cultural struggle to achieve understanding and coexistence and reveal how difficult that can be, even with the most honest intentions.

Director Michael Donald Edwards has managed to construct a supremely tight production of this raw and emotional work, and it is a worthy tribute to Akhtar's brilliant play. Disgraced is being performed in the Historic Asolo Theater, located inside of the Ringling Museum's Visitor Pavilion, which Asolo uses for just one play each season. The 18th century Italian "pill box" theater is the perfect setting, and Reid Thompson has done a masterful job of creating a set that is dynamic enough to hold this larger-than-life work.

Disgraced is must-see theater. It runs through Sunday, April 24. Visit Asolo's website for more information.