Media Archive

The initial inspiration for the musical came when Patrick Lazour saw a photograph…published in The New York Times [that] shows Egyptian youths gathered around a glowing laptop during the Arab Spring. “They were our age, risking their lives,” Daniel Lazour said.

“The rhythms of Arabic music lend themselves to theater because they’re so infectious and driving,” said Patrick…“And there’s a long tradition of activist protest music.”

The Lazours and their director, Taibi Magar, want to explore what unfolded in the eight years since the events of the revolution and ask hard questions. “What is the nature of activism? Is activism personal? Is it political?” Patrick says. “When is it time to act? When is it time to step aside? Is it ever time to step aside? And how far does one go, how much does one sacrifice, for the love of one’s country?”

“A lot of it has to do with celebrating my poor life choices. Looking back at mistakes you have made, that it has been long enough that you can now laugh at it. “Pickled” is just another way for me to look at how I deal with getting older. Also, just having way too many martinis and feeling pickled that way.”

Amidst the clutter of my grandfather’s office sits an ancient iPod connected to an ancient pair of speakers. His library of 500 or so songs can be divided into three categories: Haitian music, French chanson, and salsa and merengue…There are, however, a handful of tracks — 20, maybe — that do not fit into these three categories. They are songs of Fairuz and Oum Kalsoum, the fêted divas of Lebanon and Egypt, respectively, and arguably the two most influential singers in Arabic music. Although Haitian by nationality, Felix and Mona are ethnically Lebanese.

“If all of these stories that I’ve been learning about in college look nothing like me [or] the people that I came from,” Porkalob says, “[And] also comment on [them] in a way that I find problematic — racist, sexist, classist, not true, damaging, dehumanizing — then maybe I should write different stories.”

Sara Porkalob has been listening to her family share stories about their history all her life. The tales — by turns outrageous, harrowing, heartbreaking, and hilarious…served as the inspiration for Porkalob’s visionary “Dragon Cycle,” planned as an ambitious trilogy of plays with music, created and performed by Porkalob herself and honoring the three generations of Filipino-American women in her family.