Arti Ishak Archives - Chicago Reader

Academic fireworks

by Kerry Reid May 18, 2023September 6, 2023

You don’t have to be a sucker for love-hate romances among the literati to fall in love with Rehana Lew Mirza’s Hatefuck, but it helps. Then again, Lew Mirza’s play, now in its local premiere with First Floor Theater under Arti Ishak’s clever direction, provides a lens not usually implemented in tales of professional and […]

Side-by-side headshots of Aila Ayilam Peck on the left, and Faiz Siddique on the right. They are both Muslim actors.

Theater Review

Messy Muslims

by Yasmin Zacaria Mikhaiel May 3, 2023May 3, 2023

Chicago actor and community organizer Arti Ishak was tapped to audition for Hatefuck in 2020. They found the script exciting, like nothing they’d ever read. But the production was ultimately canceled in the wake of the pandemic, leaving Ishak determined to get this play up on a Chicago stage one way or another. Now it’s […]

An Arab American family at a kitchen table. The daughter is standing on the left. The mother is seated in front of her, looking at a laptop and talking to her son, who is seated at the right. His head is resting in his hand and he looks worried.

Theater Review

Mosque4Mosque upends stereotypes

by Boutayna Chokrane November 23, 2022November 23, 2022

Mosque4Mosque is not a monolithic representation of the Arab American Muslim experience, and perhaps that’s exactly the point. Written by Omer Abbas Salem and directed by Sophiyaa Nayar, this charming production challenges all preconceived notions of a play about an Arab American Muslim family. In this sitcom-esque dramedy, Ibrahim (played by Salem) and his family […]