THE KITE RUNNER Arizona Theatre Company Play Guide 1

THE KITE RUNNER
GHILZAI
UNDERSTANDING AFGHANISTAN:
A Conversation with the Cultural Consultant
Literary Manager Jenny Bazzell recently spoke with Humaira Ghilzai, who serves as
the Cultural Consultant on ATC’s upcoming production of The Kite Runner. Ms. Ghilzai
served in the same capacity for the play’s world premiere production last season at San
Jose Repertory Theatre. Read on to find out Humaira’s perceptions of working on The
Kite Runner as well as her views on what Afghan-Americans immigrants face in their
transition to life in the United States.
Jenny Bazzell: Tell me about your role in the production. What does a cultural
consultant do
Rinabeth Apostol and Barzin Akhavan in
The Kite Runner. Photo by Kevin Berne.
Humaira Ghilzai: The role of the
cultural consultant is a very fluid one.
Not many directors and playwrights
get to work with one so together we
determined what should be covered.
My main focus was to make sure
that the Afghan culture, traditions,
language (which is called Dari) as
well as the historical perspective of
the play is being correctly portrayed
and reflected. I had the pleasure
of working with so many different
components and phases of the play.
For instance, I worked with Matthew
Spangler, the playwright, on rewriting
a couple of scenes, with David Ira Goldstein, the director, with Kish Finnegan on the
costumes and with the actors. Specifically, there is a wedding scene that I was very
involved in. David even let me produce that part of the play so I told him that I want full
credit for that [laughs]. And I also worked along with the marketing and outreach team
when I was working with San Jose Rep in promoting the play. So I think that my main
role was to make sure the Afghan culture and traditions were presented in a positive and
rich way in the production.
JB: What is the greatest challenge in presenting Afghan culture to an American audience
HG: I think the biggest challenge is breaking a lot of the perceptions that not only just
Americans, but the West has of Afghans. They’ve only seen what is shown in the media,
which are the Taliban and the Afghan children and families in villages, which always
makes for a nice caption on a photograph. But there was and is still a very rich culture
Arizona Theatre Company Play Guide 29