To,

Whomever it may concern,

August 15, 2016
Subject: Beyond Sacred: Voices of Muslim Identity
Dear Sir or Madam,
My name is Charles Goldman, I am a rising Junior at Montgomery Blair
High School in Silver Spring, Maryland. In December of 2015 I saw a
production of a play entitled Beyond Sacred: Voices of Muslim Identity at the
Davis Performance Arts Center on the campus of Georgetown University. The
production, directed by Ping Chong (a National Medal of Arts recipient), tells
the complex stories of five Muslim-Americans coming of age in New York City.
The production is interview based meaning that all the actors are playing
themselves and are telling their own true stories. All of the actors were
children when the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks took place. Even as children, all
of them remember a sudden shift in the way they were treated and
perceived, even by those they had known for years pervious.
Only weeks before I saw production the horrific events of the Paris attacks
unfolded. The reaction from Donald Trump and other mainstream politicians
was a call for a shutdown on Syrian refugee immigration. As more attacks
have been perpetrated those reactions have become increasingly racist,
bigoted and irrational coming to a head with a declaration by Mr. Trump that
he would end all Muslim immigration if he were elected President. Comments
and policies like those have a profound effect on the way people, especially
young people, think. Last year at my high school there were multiple
instances of islamophobia perpetrated by my peers toward Muslim students.
While these events were addressed briefly by our principal I didnt think that

an announcement over the loudspeaker was sufficient in addressing the

pattern of ignorance and hate.
I believe that the best way to fight hate is with understanding and empathy
and to quote the New York Times Beyond Sacred is an exercise in
empathy a lesson in human understanding, drawn from real lives. That is
why I have been working for the past eight months to bring Beyond Sacred
to Montgomery Blair High School this fall. I have been in extensive contact
with the production company and we have potential dates set for Friday
November 4th and Saturday November 5th (election weekend) for two in
school performances on the Friday and an evening performance open to the
entire Montgomery County community on the Saturday. All of the technical
aspects of the production have been worked out but we are still in the
process of fundraising. The project costs a total of about $18,000. I have
been orchestrating a grassroots fundraising movement with my peers and so
far we have more than $7,000 pledged to be in by September 1st. However,
by September 1st I need to make a commitment to the production company
and I cannot do that unless most of the $18,000 has been raised. Time is of
the essence; the production has the potential to be seen by more than 2,000
people including 1,500 students. Brining the production to Montgomery
County is about defeating Donald Trump, not on election day, but in the long
run. His rhetoric has dealt significant blows to the Muslim community in the
United States and has been the fuel driving rising islamophobic sentiments.
This production is an invaluable tool in healing that hate and pain and I hope
you and/or your organization will consider contributing to make it happen.
Below are the links to the New York Times Review of Beyond Sacred, a brief
15 minute video that explains what the project is a little more in depth and
the GoFundMe page that has been set up to raise money for the production.

NYT Review: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/05/theater/review-beyondsacred-voices-of-muslim-identity-young-new-yorkers-tell-their-stories.html?

_r=0
Video: https://vimeo.com/144827650
GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/beyondsacredmoco
All donations made to GoFundMe and completely refunded in the project is
aborted.
If you have any questions please feel free to call, text or email me.
Cell: 9192600153
Email: patschas1@gmail.com
Sincerely,
Charles Goldman