FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 2, 2015
CONTACT:
Rebecca Bailey, Publicity Coordinator/Writer
Hopkins Center for the Arts, Dartmouth College
rebecca.a.bailey@dartmouth.edu
603.646.3991
Hilarious, stereotype-skewering look at being young,
Muslim and American, October 2
Photo: Zahra Noorbakhsh, by Andria Lo.
HANOVER, NH—Can Zahra have her atheist and be Muslim, too? No problem: she just needs to convince her
immigrant Iranian Muslim parents to approve of her living with her white, Southern Californian infidel—err,
atheist—boyfriend.
Such is the challenge explored in
Iranian-American comic Zahra
Noorbakhsh’s solo show, All
Atheists are Muslim, a tale of "boy
meets girl meets thousands of years
of religious doctrine,” coming to the
Hop’s Warner Bentley Theater on
Friday, Oct 2, at 8 and 10:30 pm.
A leading voice for American Muslim
millennials, Noorbakhsh imbues this
“sparkling autobiographical
comedy” (The Villager, NYC) with a
keen ear for character and a nimble
compassion for the challenges of
navigating multiple identities as she
toggles between portrayals of her
immigrant father and mother, her “whitey-white…translucent” boyfriend and her own beleaguered self. The
result, wrote the San Francisco Chronicle, is a show that “skewers stereotypes as much as it elicits laughs from
them.” The SF Theater Blog summed the show up thusly: “Zahra Noorbakhsh spins a delightful story…[that]
reminds us that with a little humor and a lot of food anything is possible.”
Identifying as both a feminist and a Muslim—from what she says is “the pork-eating, alcohol-drinking and
premarital-sex-having branch of American Islam”—the San Francisco Bay Area-based Noorbakhsh has been
making her name in print, radio and live performance. She has performed at the San Francisco Theatre Festival
and that city’s Solo Performance Workshop Festival, and is one-third of troupe DISoriented, a trio of Asian-
American performers touring nationwide. A finalist in Aspen’s National Rooftop College Comedy Competition,
she has performed with international acts Maz Jobrani (Axis of Evil) and Shazia Mirza (Last Comic Standing). All
Atheists Are Muslim was created in the Solo Performance Workshop facilitated by Martha Rynberg and W.
Kamau Bell, who brought down the house in a fall 2014 Hop performance.
She is a contributor to The New York Times-featured anthology Love Inshallah: The Secret Love Lives of
American Muslim Women. Her newest solo show, Hijab and Hammerpants, debuted this year at Stage Werx
Theater in San Francisco. Noorbakhsh is also a member of the SF Writer's Grotto, where she teaches courses in
storytelling, and comedy. When she’s not on tour, Noorbakhsh enjoys directing and developing solo
performances in her own workshop at the San Francisco Writer’s Grotto, where she also teaches courses in
comedy writing. She has been featured on NPR, the BBC World Service and Public Radio International’s The
World, and, with fellow Iranian-American humorist Tanzila “Taz” Ahmed, produces a monthly podcast, Good
Muslim/Bad Muslim, where the two women sift through the latest perceptual oddities of and within American
Islam.
Noorbakhsh lays full claim to her religious affiliation, as she told the blog Muslimahmontage.com. “Some
comics avoid talking about their identity, but I can’t imagine not discussing it. Being raised Muslim has shaped
my entire sense of humor, my outlook, my upbringing, and the values I uphold. Besides, where there’s
tension, there’s always the potential for laughs!...I don’t consider myself secular or ‘culturally’ Muslim. I used
to, but then I realized that I was comparing myself against those who simply observe differently than I do.
Spiritually, I am still very much Muslim and I invite others to establish their own definitions as well. The more
complicated it gets, the more we break the monolith.”
Noorbakhsh’s Dartmouth visit is co-sponsored by Dartmouth’s Tucker Foundation, GRID, Religion Department
and Women and Gender Studies Program.
RELEVANT LINKS
http://www.zahracomedy.com/
https://hop.dartmouth.edu/Online/allatheistsaremuslim
Download high-resolution photos:
https://hop.dartmouth.edu/Online/default.asp?doWork::WScontent::loadArticle=Load&BOparam::WScont
ent::loadArticle::article_id=A14ACB33-679C-469F-9E075A08469894E7&sessionlanguage=&SessionSecurity::linkName=
CALENDAR LISTING:
Zahra Noorbakhsh in All Atheists are Muslim
Can Zahra have her atheist and be Muslim, too? No problem: she just needs to convince her immigrant
Iranian Muslim parents to approve of her living with her “SoCal,” infidel—err, non-believing—boyfriend. A
leading comic voice for American Muslim millennials, Noorbahksh imbues this “sparkling autobiographical
comedy” (The Villager, NYC) with a keen ear for character and a nimble compassion for the challenges of
navigating multiple identities. Post-performance discussion with Noorbahksh.
Friday, Oct 2, 8 and 10:30 pm
Warner Bentley Theater, Hopkins Center for the Arts, Hanover NH
$25, Dartmouth students $10, general admission
Information: hop.dartmouth.edu or 603.646.2422
* * *
Founded in 1962, the Hopkins Center for the Arts is a multi-disciplinary academic, visual and performing
arts center dedicated to uncovering insights, igniting passions, and nurturing talents to help Dartmouth and
the surrounding Upper Valley community engage imaginatively and contribute creatively to our world. Each
year the Hop presents more than 300 live events and films by visiting artists as well as Dartmouth students
and the Dartmouth community, and reaches more than 22,000 Upper Valley residents and students with
outreach and arts education programs. After a celebratory 50th-anniversary season in 2012-13, the Hop
enters its second half-century with renewed passion for mentoring young artists, supporting the
development of new work, and providing a laboratory for participation and experimentation in the arts.