WRITER/STAR JENNIFER JAJEH AND AWARD-WINNING DIRECTOR W. KAMAU BELL BRING CHALLENGING, HUMOROUS LOOK AT LIFE AS A PALESTINIAN-AMERICAN TO THE 2011 HOLLYWOOD FRINGE FESTIVAL

I Heart Hamas: And Other Things I'm Afraid to Tell You

April 25, 2011 (Los Angeles, CA) -

Warning: Jennifer was born in San Francisco. Her parents are from Ramallah. She will not have her birth certificate with her. Nor will she defend being a single woman in San Francisco with a cat, or an American wanting sushi while she watches Sex and the City in Ramallah. What she will have is a new perspective on why she’s OK with you not being OK with it.

Considering the current ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, the threat of global terrorism, and the never-ending negotiations and hostilities between Israelis and Palestinians, it’s hard not to feel overwhelmed by all of the bad international news. That’s exactly how Jennifer feels. And to make matters worse, Jennifer is Palestinian. Well, Palestinian American. Or more precisely: a single, Catholic, first generation, Palestinian-American woman who chooses to return to her parents’ hometown of Ramallah at the start of the Second Intifada.

In her tragicomic solo theatre show, I Heart Hamas: And Other Things I’m Afraid to Tell You, Jennifer tries to figure her identity out for herself. Join her on American and Palestinian soil on auditions, bad dates, and across military checkpoints as she navigates the thorny terrain around Palestinian and American culture. Weaving together humor, pop culture references and live theatre, Jajeh explores how she becomes Palestinian-ized, then politicized and eventually radicalized in a fresh, often funny, searingly honest way.

I Heart Hamas: And Other Things I’m Afraid To Tell You, recognized by NYTheatre.com as “a fascinating look into a world we don’t often see or hear about,” made its world premiere at New York’s International Fringe Festival. Following strong media praise and audience reception, the play premiered in Jajeh’s hometown of San Francisco where it ran for 3 months before moving to Chicago, Minneapolis, Berkeley, Pittsburgh, and Ann Arbor in 2010, with a preview run in Los Angeles in 2011.

JENNIFER JAJEH-Writer/Performer
A Los Angeles based actor and writer, Jajeh has appeared in over three-dozen film, television, commercial and theater productions over the past five years, and can be heard on her Internet talk show, In Bed with Jen Jajeh. Her work has been profiled on the KRON 4 Morning News, WBAI NYC, Link TV, KTEH’s Video I, the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, NOX Magazine Jordan, and Watani Saudi TV to name a few. She was recently named one of Fen Magazine’s Artists to Watch in 2011.

W. KAMAU BELL-Director
(The W. Kamau Bell Curve: Ending Racism in About an Hour, Comedy Central, Live 105). Noted by SF Weekly as “smart, stylist, and very much in the mold of politically outspoken comedians like Dave Chappelle and Margaret Cho,” Bell was honored as their pick for 2008 Bay Area Comedian of the Year. As a solo theatre director, Bell has helmed “don’t make me look too psychotic”, “F**king Handicapped Guy”, “Miss-Matches.com”, and “Love, Humiliation, Karaoke”. He founded and directs SF’s Solo Performance Workshop, an incubator for new solo talent.

All Performances will be held at:
Theatre Asylum Lab
6320 Santa Monica Boulevard
Los Angeles, 90038.

2 preview performances:
June 9 at 7:30pm
June 12th at 2:00pm

4 additional performances:
June 17 at 2:00pm
June 20 at 7:00pm
June 21 at 7:00pm
June 25 at 12:30 pm

More information is available at http://www.ihearthamas.com