Besides an opportunity to witness its Michigan premiere, audiences have multiple reasons to see the moving father-daughter play “Baba,” running at Williamston Theatre April 24 through May 25.
“Baba” (an Arabic term for “father”) is a story in two parts. In 1980s Manhattan, a desperate Egyptian dad struggles to get a passport for his little girl. The absurd circus he goes through reveals the price he paid for his quest for the American Dream. Thirty years later, his daughter journeys halfway across the world, hoping to reclaim lost fragments of her father, her culture and herself.
“‘Baba’ is a play with a lot of heart,” director Tony Caselli said. “It’s got humor, fear, desperation, love, struggles, successes and failures, like most of life.”
Caselli, Williamston Theatre’s artistic director, first experienced the show in February 2023. The theater held a reading of it with actress Sarab Kamoo for its Dark Nights in Billtown series.
“Audiences loved it,” Caselli said.
Playwright Denmo Ibrahim asked Kamoo and Caselli for feedback about the play after the reading. Taking their suggestions into account, Ibrahim deepened her exploration of one of the characters and expanded the story.
“With that process as a base, when we decided to produce the show, it made sense for me to continue working with it,” Caselli said.
The chance to work with Ibrahim and Kamoo was another motivation. Kamoo is an audience favorite who has appeared on the Williamston stage many times. Caselli directed her in “Silent Sky” in 2018. That performance and her multi-character role in Williamston’s “9 Parts of Desire” in 2022 demonstrated her impressive skill at being able to convincingly assume any role.
In “Baba,” Kamoo plays both the father and the daughter.
“The playwright intentionally gives you the option to do it as a one-person or two-person show,” Caselli said. “We embraced the one-person version because we think it’s a little more magical, a little more theatrical. I also love the connection you get between the father and the daughter if they’re played by the same actor.”
Caselli said Kamoo’s involvement with “Baba” from early on and her deep connection to and love for the material has been “a wonderful thing.” Kamoo, Ibrahim and costume designer Camille Charara all have a cultural connection to the play.
“It’s such a gift for a director to embrace and pull from, and the care they put into each moment will be evident when people see the show,” Caselli said.
Because he’s “not an Arab American woman or an Egyptian immigrant,” Caselli originally had some hesitation about directing the show.
When he brought up his reservations with Ibrahim and Kamoo, they told him, “We bring ourselves and our culture to the process. You’re the artistic director of the company, and you’re also a father with a daughter. You bring that part.”
Caselli wouldn’t call “Baba” an “intense” show, but the characters “are dealing with challenges life throws at them and some challenges we make for ourselves,” he said. Although the play centers around the fight for connection and a sense of belonging, Caselli said it’s also full of love, charm and humor.
No transitions in the play will be hidden from the audience.
“We’re welcoming them into the process. It’s going to be beautiful, fun and engaging,” Caselli said. “We’re carefully designing every aspect of it to be an event.”
Caselli and the crew had fun designing the scenery, projections, lighting and sound.
“We go to a variety of locations and jump about 30 years over the course of the play,” he said. Layla, the daughter, is an artist. Throughout the show, there will be projections of her work and some of her inner thoughts.
Until a couple of years ago, support beams limited the theater’s ability to project images — and audience member’s views. After four years of work and a cost of $500,000, the beams were removed, and 13 seats were added.
“It’s been a wonderful transition for our company,” Caselli said. “Sets, lights and projections all have a better palette on which to paint, and now our storytelling feels like we’re all in the same room together, with fewer obstacles and more connections.”
The perfect setting for a play like “Baba.”
“Decision Height”
MSU Department of Theatre
April 1-5
7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday
8 p.m. Friday-Saturday
Studio 60 Theatre
542 Auditorium Road, East Lansing
“How I Learned to Drive”
April 3-6 and 10-13
7 p.m. Thursday
8 p.m. Friday-Saturday
2 p.m. Sunday
Riverwalk Theatre
228 Museum Drive, Lansing
“Chicago”
April 8-13
7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday
2 p.m. Saturday
1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday
Wharton Center Cobb Great Hall
750 E. Shaw Lane, East Lansing
“Inching Toward Yeolha”
MSU Department of Theatre
April 11-13 and 16-19
7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday
8 p.m. Friday; April 12
2 p.m. Sunday; April 19
Wharton Center Pasant Theatre
750 E. Shaw Lane, East Lansing
“Puffs, or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic”
LCC Performing Arts
April 11-13 and 18-19
7 p.m. Friday-Saturday
2 p.m. Sunday
Dart Auditorium
500 N. Capitol Ave., Lansing
“Broadway’s Next Hit Musical”
7:30 p.m. April 22
Wharton Center Pasant Theatre
750 E. Shaw Lane, East Lansing
“Baba”
April 24-May 25
Opening weekend showtimes:
7:30 p.m. Thursday-Friday
2 p.m. Saturday-Sunday
Rest of run showtimes:
2 p.m. Thursday, Saturday-Sunday
7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday
Williamston Theatre
122 S. Putnam St., Williamston
“On the Exhale”
Peppermint Creek Theatre Co.
April 25-27 and May 1-4
7 p.m. Thursday-Saturday
2 p.m. Sunday; May 3
Stage One at Sycamore Creek Eastwood
2200 Lake Lansing Road, Lansing
“Holes”
All-of-Us Express Children’s Theatre
April 25-27 and May 2-4
7 p.m. Friday
3 p.m. Saturday-Sunday
Hannah Community Center
819 Abbot Road, East Lansing
“The Cottage”
April 25-27 and May 2-4
7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday
2 p.m. Sunday
Lebowsky Center for Performing Arts
122 E. Main St., Owosso
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