AN ECHO OF LAUGHTER BY BETTY SHAMIEH

“Do I insist upon teaching the history of a people who hurt us – trying to understand how what was done to them affects what they do to us?  Will it make them tell our stories in their schools if we tell their stories in ours? ” 

A Palestinian schoolteacher in Bethlehem assigns her students to read The Diary of Anne Frank. Another teacher in Palestine wrestles with the decision. And across time and space, someone else is listening...and laughing.

Betty Shamieh is the author of fifteen plays.  Her off-Broadway premieres include The Black Eyed and Roar.  Roar was selected as a New York Times Critics Pick and is currently being taught at universities throughout the United States.  In 2016, she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for Drama and Performance Art. https://www.bettyshamieh.com/

SOURCE: https://electronicintifada.net/content/letter-bethlehem/3851