Like many Americans who lived through 9/11, Andrea Assaf has vivid memories of the day. As an Arab-American living in the East Village not far from the World Trade Center in 2001, her reaction was particularly visceral.
“I lived through the shock of that time, as a New Yorker, and also lived through the immediate backlash of anti-Arab racism that has intensified ever since. I was in my late-20s then, just developing my voice and aesthetic as an artist; 9/11 left an indelible mark on my life and work,” says Assaf, whose solo show called “Eleven Reflections on September” led to the similarly themed “11Reflections: San Francisco” opening at Brava theater center this week.
In “Eleven Reflections on September,” a multimedia show that debuted in New York in 2011, Assaf, with poetry and essays, described the physical and psychological toll she and many people of Arab descent dealt with in the previous decade. Assaf toured with the show from 2011-16. Through the years, it evolved, incorporated more stories and became a multi-city project.
Co-produced by Golden Thread Productions, a Bay Area theater group dedicated to Middle Eastern culture, “11Reflections: San Francisco,” which features 11 Bay Area-based Arab and Middle Eastern artists and musicians, has been in the works since 2020. (Assaf of “Reflections” is not related to Golden Thread’s artistic director Sahar Assaf.)
Today, after presenting many performances in front of countless spectators, Assaf is sometimes taken aback by response to the show.
“I think audience reactions are always evolving, but there are clear throughlines,” she says. “Usually, audiences express gratitude for the opportunity to hear voices and perspectives that are silenced or unavailable in mainstream media. They crave insight and connection, and this project offers that. … In times like these, when there is an active war, we need spaces to come together and mourn, as well as to feel proud of our cultures and rich artistic heritage.”
The specificity of “times like these isn’t lost” on Assaf or Golden Thread, which presents “11Reflections” as part of its Season for Palestine, a theme chosen in the wake of Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which spurred anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian sentiments.
Assaf, who has followed Golden Thread since 2006, is proud to be part of Golden Thread’s timely season. She says, “To my knowledge, Golden Thread is the only theater company in the United States to declare a season for Palestine—ever. That not only frames and influences this iteration in a specific way, but it supports and empowers us to center Palestine in the creation of this version, which is critical during the ongoing genocide in Gaza, and the war of aggression by Israel that is now expanding into Lebanon.”
Still, she’s disappointed that her post-9/11 art remains relevant as history repeats itself two decades later. Pointing out that 2,296 people died on 9/11, she adds that on Oct. 7, 2023, 1,139 people were killed and on Oct. 18, 3,478 people had been killed by Israeli bombardment of Gaza, surpassing the death toll of 9/11: She says, “As of [Sept. 20, 2024], at least 41,957 people have been killed in Gaza and the West Bank—including 16,658 children—with weapons sent by my own government. How can we not call that genocide?”
Noting that most Americans “have a hard time understanding scale” due to the way mainstream media reports with “false equivalents, purposefully, to justify U.S. military policy,” she calls Palestine an occupied country where Palestinians are subjected to violence daily and live under an apartheid system. She adds, “Because of our own history of settler colonialism and genocide in the United States, and continuing systemic racism, Americans have a hard time valuing all human lives equally. This has not changed in 20 years. And until we learn this, we have learned nothing.”
Keeping in mind that people are extremely sensitive about 9/11 and the current Israel-Hamas war, Assaf believes that “11Reflections: San Francisco,” touching on both, will be healing for those who attend.
“I want everyone to see it,” she says. “I want all audiences to take away new perspectives, a cathartic and healing experience, inspiration and even hope. It’s an evening of poetry, storytelling, music, theater magic, movement—maybe tears, and definitely laughter, too! I hope everyone will join us.”
Golden Thread Productions’ “11Reflections: San Francisco” runs Oct. 4-5 at 7 p.m. at the Brava! Theater Center, 2781 24th St., San Francisco. Tickets are $25-$100 at goldenthread.org.
Charles Lewis III is a San Francisco-born journalist and performing artist. He has written for the San Francisco Chronicle, KQED and San Francisco Examiner. Dodgy evidence of this can be found at The Thinking Man’s Idiot.wordpress.com.