Peace among Muslims, Christians, and Jews?  It could never happen, right?  Well, it did happen once, in Spain, for several hundred years.  Why couldn’t it happen again? Anne García-Romero's play Paloma imagines this very possibility.  Your contribution will help Camino Real's production of Paloma take wing and expand the conversation about peaceful coexistence today.  

     Camino Real Productions, LLC and the National Hispanic Cultural Center are honored to produce the world premiere of Paloma by Anne García-Romero, a contemporary play inspired by a medieval Spanish Muslim treatise on love. Paloma will be presented at the NHCC in July and August, 2012 in Albuquerque, NM and then will tour to Santa Fe.  

     Ms. García-Romero, Playwright in Residence at Notre Dame, describes her play as follows: "Ring of the Dove, a remarkable eleventh century Muslim Spanish treatise on love by Ibn Hazm, moved me with its elegant, witty and intricate considerations of romantic relationships.  Inspired by Ibn Hazm's text, I wrote my play Paloma as a response to the post 9/11 climate in this country.  The notion of convivencia intrigues me.  How did Muslims, Christians and Jews coexist peacefully in eleventh century Spain when religious intolerance persists in present day U.S. society? 

    "Paloma explores the lives of Ibrahim, a Moroccan-American and practicing Muslim, who falls in love with Paloma, a woman of Puerto Rican descent and nominal Catholic, while they study ancient Muslim Spain at New York University in 2003. The couple soon travels to Spain where they grapple with their religious differences. The play also toggles between various months in 2004 as Ibrahim and Jared, his friend and lawyer who practices the Jewish faith, face legal ramifications resulting from Ibrahim and Paloma's relationship. In a way, this play is my prayer for greater coexistence in our present age."

     Our director, Gil Lazier, writes: "With economy and grace, Anne García-Romero has crafted a gentle romance against the harsh backdrop of religious and ethnic conflicts. The story of Paloma and Ibrahim is so compelling and rich that we are reminded of those other romances of literature where tradition, racial strife, and social and religious barriers conspire to separate young lovers who belong together. Perhaps the biases that prevent the Montagues and Capulets from supporting their children's love are not so different from those of the Ahmed and Flores families. So as this play speaks of today's issues with a current voice, and searches for a time in history when these problems might have been resolved with equanimity, we are prompted to understand a little better our own biases and those of our neighbors." 

     This is a professional production using paid actors, director, designers and technical staff.  We are thrilled that Teatro Paraguas has invited us to bring this beautiful and important play to Santa Fe after its Albuquerque run.  We are seeking funding to cover the costs of building the highly specialized set elements the play requires and the costs of an expanded effort to reach as diverse an audience as possible.  Finally, we need funds to cover the cost of taking Paloma to Santa Fe in August so we can bring its important message to people from throughout the world who are there for the Santa Fe Opera and other world-renowned art and music festivals. 

    There will be lectures on "la convivencia" before each matinee of Paloma and talkbacks after several performances. We invite you to become part of the conversation.               

                Salaam.   Pax.   Shalom.