March 6, 2026

Hi everyone,

Well - it feels a little surreal—I didn’t expect to be texting relatives in the Middle East last week asking, “Are you safe?” while at the same time preparing for a live reading of a play I wrote with that exact title. But that’s what’s happening.

There will be a live stream reading of my play are you safe [or “the occupation of love”] on Monday, March 9 at 11 am MT as part of La MaMa Experiments Play Reading Series.

The reading will be live from Ramallah, with several readers from Ashtar Theatre with whom I collaborated in 2014. Ashtar does amazing work.

Tickets are free, but you do need to register here to receive the streaming link (and a recording if you can't attend live)

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​https://lamama.org/are-you-safe-or-the-occupation-of-love/​

I first wrote this play in 2015 after returning from Ramallah, which was a profound awakening. I worked on it in a kind of daze and then put it away.

Last fall, I saw a call from La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club and submitted it, and heard it was accepted for a reading and we set the date for March 9. I couldn't have imagined this context, nor that it would be a live reading from Ramallah.

Readers include:
Veda Baldota
Zahra Budhwani
Ellen Máirín Johnston
Jude Abu Obaid (ASHTAR Theatre)
Emile Saba (ASHTAR Theatre)
Janvi Sai
David Tanous (ASHTAR Theatre)

Support: Uttkantha Sindhwani

Special Thanks: Iman Aoun (ASHTAR Theatre), Yael Haskal (La MaMa)

are you safe [or “the occupation of love”] unfolds across a desert, an interrogation room, and a beauty parlor. A girl loves a boy who is full of holes; a man reckons with his own thirst for violence; a chorus sings of the wars we love to hate and hate to love. The play explores the space between those who live in war and those who only visit it, and the intimacy—and danger—of crossing borders into each other. Read more at the LaMama site​

If it calls to you, please join us. And I know it's tough going and a tough subject, but if you want to share your responses to the play, please do.

take good care of yourselves

Shebana

Shebana Coelho

info@shebanacoelho.com

​IG @farawayisclose.notes

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