TRUTH SERUM BLUES: Saturday, April 5, 2008 : 8:00pm

Ground Zero Coffeehouse

What is terrorism? Patriotism? Loyalty? Sedition? What is freedom of speech? Freedom of the imagination? Join us for Truth Serum Blues, a powerful performance by Ismail Khalidi that tackles such questions through music, poetry, photography and film.

“[Khalidi’s] beautiful writing ranges from a kind of hip-hop spoken word to a Greek chorus to chilling hallucinatory interrogations.” — Pulse, Twin Cities

Delving inside the tortured mind and body of Kareem, a young Arab American man stripped of his rights and lost in his own memories, Truth Serum Blues probes issues about family, exile and home in the post–September 11 era. Written by Ismail Khalidi and Bassam Jarbawi, the play glides back and forth between Guantánamo, urban America and the Middle East. The play was selected as the Best Solo Performance of 2005 by Lavender magazine.

Organized by Sarah Gualtieri (History)

visionsandvoices@usc.edu