All posts by Peter Certo:

Peter Certo is a Foreign Policy in Focus research assistant at the Institute for Policy Studies.

Purge – Finland’s young writer uncovers Estonia’s dark shame

Finland’s best selling novelist writes a play about Estonia’s painful past

On June 9th, Scena Theater – which bills itself as “Washington’s International Theater” – will host a regional premier of Sofi Oksanen’s Purge. The play, according to Scena artistic director Robert McNamara, “is not for the faint-of-heart, but for those who feel that the theatre is an extraordinary place to experience strong emotions.” [Read more...]

Mike Daisey takes on Apple and Steve Jobs

Armed only with a glass of water, a skeletal outline, and perhaps a rush of adrenaline, monologist Mike Daisey delivers unscripted, hours-long meditations on life, theater, and politics. Embellishing his astute grasp of trade politics and technology with personal stories and gonzo journalism, Daisey weaves intricate yarns that are at once moving, informative, and darkly comic. [Read more...]

The Great Game – the Pentagon Performances

The Great Game: Afghanistan is a long, long series of plays. Clocking in at some seven-and-a-half hours, the Tricycle Theatre Company’s marathon run through nearly 170 years of Afghan history leaves one at once exhausted, humbled, and oddly invigorated. This tour de force through Afghanistan’s tribulations under British, Soviet, and now American occupation leaves the viewer feeling rather better educated, but perhaps more baffled than ever before. “Are we in our ninth year in Afghanistan?” ponders an aide to Gen. Stanley McChrystal in a dramatic representation of an actual statement. “Or are we on our first year for the ninth time?” If it were only nine years that mattered! [Read more...]

Return to Haifa – finding empathy on embattled ground

Starting Saturday, January 15th, Theater J will host a two-week run of Return to Haifa, an adaptation by Israeli journalist and playwright Boaz Gaon of Ghassan Kanafani’s 1969 novella. Discounting a plagiarized version done by the Next Theatre Company in Illinois, this will be the play’s first production in the United States. [Read more...]