Historic Cities Restoration Program

Special LIVE Performances of the Domestic Crusaders in NYC on 9-11 Weekend. The award-winning two-act play written by Muslim American writer Wajahat Ali is returning to NYC for a special performance commemorating the 10th anniversary of 9/11. Audiences will have a unique and rare opportunity to share a day in the life of a modern Muslim Pakistani-American family of six eclectic, unique members, who convene at the family house to celebrate the twenty-first birthday of the youngest child.

AUDITIONS – April 17-18, 2009, Friday and Saturday STAGED READING – April 19, 2009, Sunday “The Domestic Crusaders”, The First Major Muslim-American Play for the Post 9-11 World, Nuyorican Poets Cafe, NYC – www.domesticcrusaders.com The Domestic Crusaders makes its New York premiere at the world famous Nuyorican in Fall 2009. Opening 9/11/09 to 10/19/09. Please engage in this historic effort by auditioning or attending the staged reading in NYC. “The Domestic Crusaders is exactly the sort of theater we need today. The gulf that separates cultures must be bridged and Art is one of our best hopes. I’ll be supporting…

Metropolitan Museum’s Moroccan Courtyard Takes Shape – NYTimes.com. Almost 30 years later the museum was embarking on the most ambitious rethinking and rebuilding of its Islamic art galleries in its history, a $50 million endeavor. At the heart of those galleries, which will open in the fall after being closed six years, it dreamed of showcasing the defining feature of Moroccan and southern Spanish Islamic architecture: a medieval Maghrebi-Andalusian-style courtyard, which would function in much the same way such courtyards still do in the traditional houses and mosques of Marrakesh or Casablanca, as their physical and spiritual center.