A Conversation with Omar Khan, Maddie Rostami, and Maya Shah

A theatrical adaptation of the beloved book, Broadway’s The Kite Runner follows Amir (played by Amir Arison), an Afghan boy from Wazir Akbar Khan, Kabul. The narrative spans decades, from his childhood in Kabul to his time as a refugee in the San Francisco area. In many ways, it’s a redemption story as Amir reflects on his childhood friendship with his servant Hassan (played by Eric Sirakian) and the price both boys had to pay for Amir’s pride. The Kite Runner highlights a specific heritage, so 3Views sent three SWANASA (South West Asian, North African, and South Asian) theater makers to the show in order to ground a review in the appropriate cultural context. The following are excerpts from their conversation, edited and reduced for clarity. You can listen to the chat in full here.

Omar: My name is Omar Khan and I'm a designer. I was born in Pakistan and moved to the United States as a young boy.

Maya: Hey, I'm Maya Shah. I'm a marketer. I was born and raised in New York City and my family is from India.

Maddie: And I'm Maddie Rostami. I'm a producer and dramaturg currently living in New York, but my family is from Iran and Ireland. I also grew up in the Bay Area, which feels important when talking about The Kite Runner.

Maya: So The Kite Runner opened on Broadway and I wanted the show to place me in Afghanistan, in the kite festival. That was the thing I was most looking forward to: being surrounded by kites, having music transport me outside of the “Great White Way.” But all I keep remembering is how dark and empty the set was. That disappointed me. 

Omar: I totally agree. Having that backdrop [a dark, abstract fence that doubled as the San Francisco skyline] represent scenes in America and scenes in Afghanistan seemed like a minimal and lean way to approach a book that's so overarching and sumptuous.

Maya: Even the clothing and the textiles that were brought into the production, they were very American and, more specifically, American business-like to me. Aside from the wedding scene, which I think was the best one, there weren’t any other glimmers of or connections to the culture. 

Maddie: This is admittedly a different country, so different circumstances, but my dad grew up in the 70s in Iran and when I look at pictures from that time I see many Western influences that were present. And you see that in the way Amir and Hassan are watching old Western films and really leaning into cowboy culture. So I understand the relative sparseness in the costumes, but I agree with Omar that I wanted more of that sumptuousness in other elements of design, like sets and projections. The production featured large kite wings that descended above the stage in certain scenes, and projections were cast onto them. Some of those were textile projections, some were literal, and then some were more abstract, almost painting-like. But nearly every projection from Afghanistan (save a vibrant sketch of a pomegranate tree), felt devoid of color. There was texture across the board, but no color. Especially since contemporary Western media tends to “sandwash” and dull the color in images from the Middle East, I wanted more.

Maya: What I did love was the character of Baba (Amir’s dad, a dominating figure played by Faran Tahir). He held it down, especially at the start of the second act. That’s when my heartstrings were tugged a little bit when watching and understanding this great man's sacrifice. He was the successful “headman in charge” in Afghanistan and then, when he came to this country, he was working at a gas station. Thinking about the sacrifices that I'm sure all of our parents made just made me love Baba a lot more. 

Maddie: Yes! And then to see the way that later on in Act Two, Amir and his wife (Soraya, played by Azita Ghanizada) then honor Baba’s sacrifice by taking care of him as an older, sick man. I was so touched by the way that Soraya (Amir’s wife, also an Afghan refugee) pushed him in the wheelchair and gave obvious affection; the intimacy that existed between the two of them was really quite breathtaking.

Omar: Those little character moments were so, so evocative, but then Amir’s audience-directed narration would come in and tell the audience exactly what to think of them. It weakened the character moments for me because it makes the actors’ work less subtle and less interesting if the audience is then told exactly what it means and what's going to happen next. That works in a book, but not on stage. 

Maddie: As a dramaturg, that was one of the most frustrating parts about this adaptation. I would say maybe two-thirds of the show was narrated by Amir, or at least that's how it felt. It would've helped with the vibrancy of the world and the specificity of the cultural components if we got to see more of the characters themselves, instead of hearing loosely about them from a narrative voice before moving on to the next thing.

Maya: I think there’s the nuances of having this production but then also really trying to dive into what it's like to be in a caste system. Because that was a huge theme of the play, the contentious Hazara and Pashtun relationship, yes, but also just the Islamic Muslim sects they're within. I felt like they didn’t dedicate enough specificity to Western audiences about this huge topic. 

Omar: One thing I wonder is if, in adapting this story to a Western audience, the playwright (Matthew Spangler) felt he had to straddle the tribal conflict in Afghanistan across religious lines - Shia and Sunni. That would make it easier because for 20+ years, our news and media has highlighted that religious sectarian conflict instead of the more complex conflicts along tribal or regional lines. Mentioning the Shia and Sunni opposition creates a shorthand that people in the United States might already understand like, "Oh, I've been following the news, I understand that Shia and Sunni Muslims don't get along.”

Maddie: This idea of oversimplification and ease is something that I've been thinking a lot about. The three of us sat together, and immediately behind us, there was a group of white audience members who were so deeply moved by this play, like audible tears, right on their feet with bravos immediately at curtain call. And I feel so conflicted because on one hand, how awesome is it that some white audience members are going to be deeply moved by a story that objectively follows an Afghan family and their relationships over time? But in losing that cultural specificity, and in losing that history of the really complicated tribal dynamics of Afghanistan, I think we also lose an opportunity for accurate historical and cultural representation. That oversimplification makes white folks feel like they're an expert or like, "Oh, now I can talk at length about the Pashtun versus Hazara conflict in Afghanistan and feel like I'm walking away with a cultural understanding."  I don't have that cultural understanding; I have so much that I need to learn. And I worry that by oversimplifying these issues, the show emboldens folks with an expertise that they don't yet have.

I feel like we've talked a lot about moments that didn't work for us, what were the moments that were really effective or that had us leaning in?

Omar: In one of the scenes when Amir actually travels to Pakistan, there's this absolutely beautiful projection of the towers of the city, I think Peshawar but I don’t remember where. There's this watercolor-ness to it and I wanted that everywhere in the show. I remember being completely distracted by whatever else was happening because I just kept looking at this beautiful projection.

Maddie: I loved the birthday song too, not just the song itself but the celebration and the moment afterward when you have everyone gathering for Amir's birthday. That was one moment where I loved the projection design too, you could see people behind those large kite pieces casting shadows in light; continuing to tell the story of a big gathering of people even with no words, only shadows. That was one of the moments where the kites were actually effective as a tool for storytelling.

Maya: Yeah, that was stunning because it provided the authenticity we were missing. Like I said, I loved the wedding scene, especially the choreography — to see the outfits and the men dancing was really beautiful. I was happy to learn that both the wedding song and the happy birthday song were key markers for Afghans. 

Maddie: Overall, it felt hard for me to understand the rules of the play due to the inconsistency in the theatrical language, of what we were choosing to portray and not portray or to tell: using literal kites on strings versus miming kites versus projections, etc. I understand that there are going to be some things in that world that we don't want to portray, literally, whether that's a specific act of violence or whether that is kites on glass strings. All of those are theatrical challenges. But I found myself distracted by the inconsistencies and unable to really lean into the moments where I think I needed to.

Maya: Definitely agree. We talked about the kites a lot here, and I think we should dive in a little bit more because they're a huge part of that region! The three of us each have deep stories. My mom talks about the kite festival often, and of being on the rooftop of her family's home and seeing a field of kites. Everyone takes their kites out, there's different hierarchies. For example, you can't really touch your grandfather's kite because that's more established, that's more expensive. All the kids are out running, it's a moment of celebration, gathering, goodness. It's a huge deal! I don't think we really have something like that in the States, but in the regions that we're talking about, it's a big, beautiful festival. That’s why we keep harping on the desire to see literal, extravagant kites.

Omar: Like we talked about earlier, it makes a lot of the character work harder, because with the scaled-back version of the kite festival, I didn't really get a sense of why Amir wanted to impress his father so desperately. There was no sense of how big a deal this kite running thing was apart from us being told this is a big deal, “I need to impress my father.” Maya you mentioned people being on balconies and rooftops—there’s a whole verticality to the kite festival! And there was just none of that in the show. And I find that part extremely disappointing.

Maya: This production's been around for quite some time. And for it to finally reach New York on Broadway was something that I was so looking forward to, but it does a disservice. I know there's been so many conversations over the last few years about showcasing the stories of people of color and the treatment they receive when they get on this Great White Way. After seeing this production, I wonder when will it all fit: the production, storytelling, celebration, vibrancy, and marketing. 

Omar: I've been having a tough time figuring out what a successful version of this book being turned into a play would be like. There's a lot of what we discussed already about increasing the production design and decreasing the overreliance on narration. But I think you're right to say that if this isn't how you adapt a book or a story of refugees and people of color, what is that way? And I don't have an actual answer, but I'm curious how you go about adapting a book to a play? Because if I zoom out from this, it tells the story of the book almost verbatim. So if I were to think, oh, this play tells the story of the book, that makes it successful. But I don't think that's what makes it a successful adaptation. How do we get to convey the spirit of the book in terms of bringing these stories to majority white audiences or bringing the stories to the US?

Maddie: I think that’s one question that I have had a lot this season too. Because off-Broadway, this has been a rad season for stories, at least from my cultural background! It was awesome. I got to hear Farsi onstage which I've never had before, in multiple productions (thank you Sanaz Toossi for that gift!) including The Kite Runner. How exciting is that? The most exciting plays that I've seen are ones that absolutely could be appreciated by majority white audiences, but a lot of the glimmers in there were not for them. The juiciest moments were for people who had some cultural background that made it more impactful for them. I think the question that I'm left with is how do we eventually get to a place where we can create a Broadway piece and have it succeed, and have it not meant for majority white audiences? I see some of this with the way that for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf ultimately ended its Broadway run—because that piece, oh my God, it was beautiful! And to be in a house where a lot of the audience members were Black women, and to see their response to it, was awesome. I dream of a future where an Afghan person or an Iranian person or a Pakistani person can go to a show and have it be for them and have it be glorious too. I think we're a long way from getting there, but there have been some moments this season where I found it in other plays, just not The Kite Runner.