There Is A Portal

Kayhan Irani

Friday, November 9 at 7:30 PM

Christ church neighborhood house

20 N. American Street

Tickets are discounted by $5 when purchased online!

Directed by Rania Lee Khalil 
Written & Performed by Kayhan Irani
Video Art by Gazelle Samizay 

Can an immigrant’s story be universal in today’s America?

There Is A Portal offers a theatrical space for truth-telling and healing, offering us a chance to rebuild our connections to each other. Using live performance, video projections, audience interaction, and humor, EMMY-award winning performer Kayhan Irani shares memories from the Iranian revolution, her struggle to assimilate in NYC, family tales of migration, and characters from her community. 

Large political events are counterbalanced with small, personal moments of Irani’s life, and the experiences of her community to demonstrate how the political weaves into personal reality. Irani highlights stories of the targeted to show an unsettling reality, using monologue and narrative to widen the perspective and offer a way forward. 

Despite xenophobic narratives and a culture of extreme fear and polarization, we are in a unique moment where hatred is being met with rising desires for humanity and a shared commitment to justice. More and more people want art that deeply engages with political realities, and There Is A Portal offers a chance to rebuild our connections to each other.

Intercultural Journeys curator Alex Shaw joins Irani as a guest artist in this collaborative performance. 

Hungry for more? Come to the theater at 7 pm on November 9 for Sound Bites, a short, pre-show talk on some of the themes explored in There Is A Portal. On November 9, Sound Bites will be led by Sham-e-Ali Nayeem, a Philadelphia based poet and visual artist. Born in Hyderabad, India and raised in both the UK and the US, Sham-e-Ali is a former public interest lawyer supporting economic justice for survivors of family and intimate partner violence, a recipient of the Loft Literary Center’s Spoken Word Immersion Fellowship, and is the author the upcoming book, City of Pearls (UpSet Press, 2018).