Negotiating Self in Diaspora: Historicizing Faiza Shereen's Play the Country Within‪.‬

Distance from Egypt was like distance from self. Faiza Wahby Shereen's play The Country Within had its premiere presentation on Sunday, November 17, 1991. The play had been written several years earlier but was put "away in a drawer," (43) as Shereen herself points out, until she was asked about it by members of the Arab-American Association in Cincinnati. The cast was made up of members of the Arab-American community. They included Egyptians, Jordanians, Palestinians and other Arabs, as well as American spouses and children. (44) Although the majority of the actors had little or no prior stage experience, the play was a great success, thanks to the efforts of experienced African American director, Charles Holmond.