Actor, producer and writer Fawzia Mirza will perform her solo play “Me, My Mom & Sharmila” on Thursday in the Mathers Museum of World Cultures.
Mirza is known for her web series “Kam Kardashian” and ”Brown Girl Problems” and her short films “The First Session” and “Reclaiming Pakistan.”
The play explores “intersecting identity, family and growing up South Asian and queer in today’s world,” according to the Kiran C. Dhar India Studies Program press release.
The show is about a girl’s journey of self-discovery from her childhood as a Pakistani Muslim in Canada to her life as an actress in Chicago.
It also features her struggle to connect with her mother and her love for Bollywood movie star Sharmila Tagore, according to the release.
The show combines personal anecdotes, pop culture and South Asian history.
“I love to use performance, personal storytelling and comedy to break down stereotypes across a multiplicity of identities: race, religion, sexual orientation and gender and defy the concept of the ‘model minority’ often portrayed in the mainstream,” Mirza said on her website.
The South Asian International Performing Arts Festival said the play is “a show about family and finding yourself.”
Mirza was named the “rising star” of Chicago’s indie filmmaking scene by WBEZ Chicago and one of the top 10 writers of indie series by Indiewire Magazine.
Last year, Mirza’s “The First Session” was a finalist in the 2015 NBCUniversal Short Film Festival.
According to her website, Mirza’s upcoming projects include a short comedy called “Spunkle” and a short documentary about social activist Sabeen Mahmud.
President and CEO of National Academy of Performing Arts Zia Mohyeddin said “Me, My Mom & Sharmila” is “concise and razor-sharp, interspersed with an adroit mixture of humour and pathos.”
Brooke McAfee
