Arrivals February 16, 2007

This play is inspired by the recent string of detentions of people of Middle Eastern heritage. It tells the story of a Syrian born Canadian citizen who, having legally entered the US, is detained at Immigration by Homeland Security as a "person of interest." Stripped of his rights to defend himself or know the charges against him, the man relies on the heroic actions of his wife at home, as well as those of his lawyer, to fight against the unjust measures of a government they had once believed in. While diplomats quibble and security officers speak about the safety of the population, the man sits in a cell, civil liberties suspended, awaiting deportation to the land of his birth and certain torture. The play puts a very real and personal face on the political issue of extraordinary rendition and portrays the fears, agonies and humanity experienced by the family of a man branded by his name and racial profile.