JADO JEHAD Comes to Boston Playwrights' Theatre Next Month

Boston Playwrights' Theatre (BPT) continues its 2022-23 season with Jado Jehad by Fatima A. Maan. Running from February 16-26, the play is directed by Bridget Kathleen O'Leary.

Jado Jehad is a family play about three generations of Pakistani women. Twenty-something Mashal has recently returned to Pakistan after pursuing her education in the U.S. and has reluctantly moved back into her grandmother Manzoor's house along with her newly-divorced mother, Kareema. Chafing under her grandmother's strict scrutiny, suffocated by Pakistan's patriarchal culture, and disoriented by her mother's peculiar behavior, Mashal wonders if it's possible to feel at home in her homeland-or in her own family.

Playwright Maan, who is from Pakistan, describes Jado Jehad-which means "to make effort, to strive, and to persevere"-as the "most difficult" play she has written.

"I needed to write this play for myself," she says. "A younger version of me stumbling through years of trauma and grief needed to see this play and feel seen. . . I don't doubt that as the years go on, this play will continue to evolve and grow much like myself. My hope is that audiences see this play and not only some of the difficult things that these characters are grappling with but their own struggles as well."

Maan is a third-year M.F.A. playwright at Boston University, and was one of 35 emerging artists selected for the Theatertreffen 2021 International Forum in Berlin. Prior to coming to Boston, Maan was the managing director and co-artistic director of Chasing Dragons, a Lahore, Pakistan-based theatre collective of artists from ten countries that conducts performance workshops for underprivileged schools throughout Pakistan.

Director O'Leary is a director, dramaturg and theater educator who returns to BPT after helming Reconsidering Hanna(h) by Deirdre Girard (2014) and The Devil's Teacup by Nathan Warren Lane (2007). Other directing credits include work with SpeakEasy Stage Company, New Repertory Theatre and Gloucester Stage Company. O'Leary served on the Executive Committee for the National New Play Network (NNPN) from 2014-2020. She received her M.F.A. in directing at Boston University.

Jado Jehad will feature Vidisha Agarwalla as Mashal, Jyoti Daniere as Manzoor, Prreeti Tiwari as Kareema and Sushmita Udoshi as Amal.

The creative team includes Scenic Designer Peyton Tavares, Costume Designer Akeem Celestine, Lighting Designer John Holmes, Sound Designer Sean Doyle and Production Stage Manager Pat-rice Rooney. Dialect coaching is provided by Ashleigh Reade and Urdu language coaching by Parnami Shilpa.

All the plays in BPT's 2022-23 season were written by the Boston University M.F.A. Playwriting Program class of 2023, and co-produced with the Boston University College of Fine Arts School of Theatre as part of its New Play Initiative.

BPT's season concludes in April with Alligator-a-Phobia in 3D!, a play with music by Jay Eddy.

BPT's COVID-19 Safety procedures proved to be very effective in keeping audiences and performers safe last season; audiences will be required to wear masks for the duration of their time at the theatre. Up-to-the-minute information regarding performance schedules, COVID-19 protocols and ticketing can be found on the BPT website (www.BostonPlaywrights.org) under Visit Us > COVID-19 Safety.