Theater collaboration connects Jewish and Muslim students

It’s 3:30 p.m. on a Sunday in Providence. Most fifth-graders are enjoying bike rides with friends, walking in the parks or playing in backyards. But today, at Brown RISD Hillel, a handful of boys and girls are reshaping the relationship between Jews and Muslims in Rhode Island. 

The children are preparing to present their theatrical production, called Community Through Time, the culmination of a collaboration between the Islamic School of Rhode Island (ISRI) and the Jewish Community Day School of Rhode Island (JCDSRI), in partnership with the Center for Dynamic Learning.  

In the wake of last year’s hateful graffiti at the ISRI, and the subsequent letters of support by Day School students, Adam Tilove,  JCDSRI Head of School,  and ISRI Head of School Abdelnasser Hussein came together to create  an opportunity to foster understanding. In addition, both schools sponsored whole school events, such as a community-building event on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The Center for Dynamic Learning, based in South Providence, became the site for months of rehearsals of the theatrical collaboration, and provided the instructional foundation. 

In Community Through Time, we see kids being kids together, and how natural it all seems when we approach what seems unlikely to an adult through the eyes of a child. When asked a question  about the “takeaways” from the production, the answers reflected the simple joy of making friends: 

“I learned so much about how halal and kosher are similar.” 

“I made so many new friends, it’s been great.” 

“We learned how we all had similar talismans; stuffed animals we had had for a long time.” 

Tilove says, “We are inoculating [students] against racism and xenophobia. We have to get to them early.” 

In an interview, Tilove explained more about the project.  

“We are manifesting who we are meant to be by engaging the other. By being who we are and by being proud of who others are and by honoring both ourselves and other people,” he says.

In his address to the parents and friends who pack the Hillel Chapel for the student production, Hussein introduces Community Through Time with some background information on Islam.

“It is my religion to get to know and form relationships with every person on this earth,” he says. “God made us into man and woman, then made us into nations – Christians, Muslims, Jews – not so we would be in conflict with each other, but so we could work together.” 

During the production, students in hijabs and kippot run around backstage, suppressing giggles as they prepare for each new scene. After a few microphone challenges, it becomes clear that the script isn’t important; the students are having a blast and clearly enjoying one another’s company and performing. 

Nursing mothers, large families, parents smiling and snapping photos, the room is all family, standing room only. Muslim men give up seats to bubbes, and more than one Jewish adult offered a seat to a Muslim child who wanted to sit next to his parents. 

The mood is warm as U.S. Rep. David Cicilline says a few words. 

“We see so many examples today of adults behaving, well, badly. Sometimes it takes the young people to inspire adults,” he says.

LEAH BOURAMIA is an educator who lives in Warwick.