"Shiny Ropes"

Shiny ropes hang by my side

When the nights are long

Shiny ropes can tell no lies

Even when the dream’s gone

We all love the same when the stakes are high

We all crash, burn and hope, until we die

We’re all lookin’ for somethin’ that keeps us hangin’ on

Liftin’ you

Liftin’ me

Right up to the sky

We all feel the sadness when they say goodbye

We all pull, push, and cling to give it one more try

We’re all reachin’ for heaven, hoping to belong

Hold you up

Hold me up

We won’t break the tie

Shiny ropes hang by my side

When the nights are long

Shiny ropes can tell no lies

Even when the dream’s gone

We’re all dependin’ on someone to make us feel alive

We’re not savin’ our hearts from something we can’t deny

LETTERS TO A DEAD GIRL: TRANSCENDENCE ready for CESA2015

Synopsis - Letters to a Dead Girl: Transcendence

One-person show written by Shazia Islam a.k.a. Neon

*This story is a fictionalized account of an American soldier's dive into the hellfire of war and the tragic consequences of his indoctrination. The idea of the story evolved during the annual 3-Day Novel Writing Contest held over Labour Day weekend in 2013 after I had read about the horrors of the US invasion of Iraq in Jim Frederick's Black Hearts: One Platoon's Descent into Madness in Iraq's Triangle of Death. The now deceased Frederick (rest in peace Jim) had a vision to write a book that would effectively change people's naive perceptions of US intervention in Iraq. He wanted to tell the real story and he did in profoundly gripping detail. His book changed my reality for good. The 50-page Letters to a Dead Girl was written during a turbulent time in my own life so I was unable to expand on the story and make it more "complete" within the 3-day time limit. As fate would have it, an opportunity arrived to turn the manuscript into a solo theatre show, and so, the story renews its determination to be heard, for better or for worse...

Humanity in every soul cannot be extinguished, yet it must be continuously rediscovered, for a light flickers within. --SI

During the second U.S.-led military invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003, hundreds and thousands of Iraqi civilians were subjected to violent deaths as a result of an armed, foreign military presence. The deaths of civilians in this period saw a tragic increase from the first invasion of Iraq in 1991. The embattled region remains in chaos and its people deeply affected by the horrors they had witnessed.

Letters to a Dead Girl: Transcendence is a one-person theatre production with music about a U.S. soldier living out the rest of his life in solitary confinement for crimes he committed while stationed in Iraq. The story of Private First Class Leonard Purple is a profound and disturbing exploration of a troubled American youth's indoctrination into military invasion, racism, occupation, and violence. After receiving the toughest sentence of life without parole out of a group of soldiers charged with the rape and murder of an Iraqi teenager and the murders of her family, he sits in a solitary jail cell back in the U.S. as turbulent memories of the past invade his mind. In an attempt to take accountability for his actions, Purple begins writing a series of letters to Fatima Qureshi, the girl he had killed. What follows is an unexpected transcendence where identities converge and then merge, and where Purple suddenly finds himself on the side of the Occupied. As this alternate reality unfolds changing the landscape of his prison cell, Purple hears the voice of Fatima through his own as she delivers a repertoire of haunting ballads to reclaim the life she knew in one final act of resistance and repossession.

Letters to a Dead Girl: Transcendence has no entertainment value. It is not a show or a spectacle. It is a story to remember and to honour the young spectres of war and violence whose lives were mercilessly stolen, and whose spirits yet remain, roaming in anticipation of liberation. 

Music:

"Time" composed and performed by Timothy A. Bartsch

"Foreshadowing" and "Abeer Qassim Hamza Al-Janabi" composed and performed by NO FEALTY

Performance Date:

Thursday, April 30, 12:15pm - 1:45pm @ Critical Ethnic Studies Conference (#CESA2015)

York University Campus