It’s probably not a coincidence when conversations about an artistic piece begin to mirror the piece itself. In this case, the liminal presence of Riparian States, Kareem Fahmy’s work in progress for the Next Forever commission, suffused the dialogue between Kareem and I with tributaries, diversions, tangents, questions of identity and questions of sustainability.
Riparian States follows the creation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, a project that will give Ethiopia unprecedented levels of electric power, but will siphon water from Egypt’s own resources in the process. Subsequently, the dam is now a symbol of national pride, religious conflicts, racial divides, and most pressing, an imminent climate catastrophe that will affect everyone in the Nile Region–and ultimately, anyone who benefits from the Nile’s resources. (See: all of us here on planet Earth). Kareem’s work follows the path of Saidiya Hartman’s “critical fabulation,” concocting multiple stories and timelines to tell this story. As one can imagine, trying to parse through the many layers at play is a winding project, rather than a linear one. Speaking about Riparian States necessitates watery trails of thought that flow one way, double back, and revisit their source before flowing out once more.
What I’m trying to say is–our conversation clocked in at about 8,000 words.
This is why, as editor, I made the executive decision to create a sort of “Choose Your Own Adventure” for engaging with Kareem’s reflections and ideas. Our dialogue is broken up into multiple pages and at the end of each page, you will be offered some choices as to where you might like to, shall we say, “flow” next.
(The link to each page is located under the “Author” box.)
Happy travels.
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To read about Kareem’s dramaturgical process (called “Source Work”), go to page 2.
To read about how Kareem structures new plays, go to page 3.
To read about Riparian States, go to page 4.
To skip to the end, go to page 5.
Extended Play is a project of The Civilians. To learn more about The Civilians and to access exclusive discounts to shows, visit us and join our email list at TheCivilians.org.
