THE STORY: Sparkling with intelligence and humor, BACK OF THE THROAT is the tale of an apparently friendly visit by two government officials, which soon devolves into a full-blown, no-holds-barred probe. Khaled, an Arab-American writer and the focus of their inquiry, finds himself, to his astonishment, suddenly accused of possible ties to terrorists. As the interrogation proceeds, the officials reveal their evidence, but is it evidence? Or have innocent events been distorted through the lens of paranoid suspicion? As the situation turns increasingly surreal, and the menace to Khaled increasingly real, the question of what it means to be an American takes on a very personal and charged significance. An enthralling and ultimately chilling black comedy, BACK OF THE THROAT confronts bureaucratic euphemisms like “person of interest” and “extraordinary rendition” with the frightening reality they seek to obscure.
“…[a] brilliant and sinewy new play.” —The New Yorker.
“BACK OF THE THROAT could be the post-9/11 play we’ve been waiting for: the sum of all our domestic fears, played for uneasy laughs and piercing dread.” —Newsday (NY).
“BACK OF THE THROAT plays like a section of the U.S. Patriot Act as dramatized by David Mamet and Franz Kafka.” —American Theatre Magazine.
“…chillingly plausible vision…captures the Strangelovian logic of feds as well as the more subtle paranoia that afflicts us all.” —Seattle Weekly.
“Wickedly funny…surely to be remembered as a valuable contribution to the post-9/11 canon of plays.” —New City (Chicago).
“BACK OF THE THROAT is a must see for anyone who loves good theatre…” —Gay Chicago Magazine.
