Overview
Set in Naperville, Illinois, Obstacle Course explores reactions to a proposed Islamic Community Center on the site of a beloved local landmark. Allyship, municipal politics, and Islamophobia all intersect in this head-on collision between Not in My Backyard fear mongering, well-intentional liberalism, and the peaceful practice of faith.
Obstacle Course was adapted from Jamil Khoury’s full-length stage play Mosque Alert, commissioned and produced by Silk Road Rising in 2016, directed by Edward Torres.
Creative Team
Playwright
- Jamil Khoury
Director
- Dale Heinen
Executive Producers
- Malik Gillani
- Jamil Khoury
Director of Photography & First Camera Operator
- John Wesley Norton
Editor & Color Correction
- Brittany Alsot
First Assistant Director & Second Camera Operator
- Nicole DePue
Second Assistant Director & Properties Designer
- Andy Lynn
Line Producer & Script Development Dramaturg
- Corey Pond
Post-Production Script Editing Support
- Malik Gillani
Set Designer
- Milo Bue
Costume Designer
- Marci Rodriguez
Original Compositions
- Ronnie Malley
Foley Artist
- Jeffrey Levin
Location Sound Mixer
- Jacob Brown
Post-Production Sound
- Nate Green
Gaffer
- Alexander Andro
Grip
- Jack Gonsa
Hair and Make-Up Artist
- Dora Kwak
Hair and Make-Up Assistant
- Patrick McKay
Hair and Make-Up Assistant
- Matt Johnson
Script Supervisor
- Sharon Pak
Technical Director
- Johnnie Schleyer
Charge Artist
- Zhanna Albertini
Production Assistants
- Brittany Alsot
- Adia Clark
- Samia Malik
- Ashley Mister
- Nadya Naumaan
- Bryce Parsons-Twesten
Cast
(in order of appearance)
Alka Nayyar as DALILA KHAN
Noha El Ganzouri as LAYLA NASER
Annalise Raziq as NASREEN QUDSI
Fouad Teymour as OMAR QABBANI
Kamal Hans as IMAM YUSSEF BAIG
Gabrielle Lott-Rogers as DONNA HILL
Molly Lyons as ROSE GOODWIN
Rachel Sledd as KIMBERLY JONES
Megan Storti as SALLY GILLESPIE
Steve Merle as PAUL SCHMIDT
Luke Daigle as JEFFREY BAKER
Kaelan Strouse as CARTER THOMAS
Robin Chaplik as REVEREND TINA CALHOUN
Sami Ismat as MOHAMMAD GHAZALI
David Rhee as WILL PARK
Anu Bhatt as HADIYA YAQUB
Revon Yousif as ZAIN BADAWI
Adrianne Cury as IRAQI CHRISTIAN WOMAN
Cheryl Hamada as JAPANESE AMERICAN WOMAN
Annelyse Ahmad as DISSIDENT MUSLIM WOMAN
Extras (Town Hall Meeting Scene)
- Aayisha Humphrey
- Al Gillani
- Amber, Jaclyn
- Andrea Lee
- Anne Thompson
- Atian, Francesca
- Bonita Bryant
- Bosque, Bryan
- Brandon Campbell
- Brent Ervin-Eickhoff
- Brian Sheridan
- Brumback, Cathleen
- Carol Ann Tan
- Carol Emmons
- Cathleen Brumback
- Charlie Diaz
- Chelsea David
- Chow, Gordon
- Chuck Emmons
- Cody Pariset
- Collins, Meg
- Cookie Marks
- Cuellar, Kate
- Danny Au
- David Morgan Shaw
- Dempsey, Jill
- Dombrovskaya, Henrietta
- Dr. Elaine Ades Sachnoff
- El Gamal, Tina
- Emmons, Carol
- Emmons, Chuck
- Ervin-Eickhoff, Brent
- Ervin-Eickhoff, Jessica
- Evemarie Moore
- Francesca Atian
- Gillani, Al
- Gillani, Malik
- Gordon Chow
- Guzman, Mabel
- Haddad, Mary Lou
- Hapin, Harrison
- Heidi Katz
- Henrietta Dombrovskaya
- Hernando Kofman, Sophie
- Hind Makki
- Hubbert, Melissa
- Humphrey, Aayisha
- Ian Michael Smith
- Ina Marks
- Jaclyn Amber
- Jeanne Martineau
- Jessica Ervin-Eickhoff
- Jill Dempsey
- Joanna Riopelle
- Kate Cuellar
- Kate Wulle-Dugan
- Krishna Tateneni
- Kucera, Vanessa
- Kuruvilla, Teresa
- Lee, Andrea
- Linda Smedberg
- Lissa Schwartz
- Malik Gillani
- Mabel Guzman
- Makki, Hind
- Martineau, Jeanne
- Mary Lou Haddad
- Mead, Michael
- Meg Collins
- Melissa Hubbert
- Michael Kocken
- Michael Mead
- Moore, Evemarie
- Morgan Shaw, David
- Morris, Rosalind
- Pariset, Cody
- Priyank Thakkar
- Rachel Silvert
- Riopelle, Joanna
- Rosalind Morris
- Sachnoff, Dr. Elaine Ades
- Schwartz, Lissa
- Sheridan, Brian
- Silvert, Rachel
- Smith, Ian Michael
- Smith, Toma Lynn
- Sophie Hernando Kofman
- Souza, Susanna
- Strimple, Tracy
- Susanna Souza
- Tateneni, Krishna
- Teresa Kuruvilla
- Thakkar, Priyank
- Thompson, Anne
- Tiffany Taylor
- Tina El Gamal
- Tracy Strimple
- Vanessa Kucera
- Wulle-Dugan, Kate
- Xu
- Yusra Al-Shawaf
Development
Obstacle Course was developed in part during Jamil Khoury’s two-week residency at Tufts University in Medford, Massachussetts. The residency culminated in two public performances, produced and performed by Tufts University students. The script was further developed at Silk Road Rising and produced as a staged reading at The InterReligious Institute at Chicago Theological Seminary’s Raging Issues of Today (RIOT) Conference in 2018.
Script
Special Thanks
Asian Giving Circle
City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events
First United Methodist Church at the Chicago Temple
Illinois Arts Council Agency
The InterReligious Institute at Chicago Theological Seminary
McCoy Architects LLC
Tufts University Department of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies
Screening History
- February 21-27, 2019 | Silk Road Rising, Chicago, Illinois (Seven Screenings)
- March 3, 10, 24, and 31, 2019 | Sanctuary, a television series produced by Greater Chicago Broadcast Ministries, ABC-7
- March 21, 2019 | Northwestern University, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Chicago, Illinois
- March 22, 2019 | Silk Road Rising, Chicago, Illinois
- May 1, 2019 | Joan Mitchell Center, New Orleans, Louisiana
- May 22, 2019 | City of Chicago Commission on Human Relations, Chicago, Illinois
- June 2, 2019 | First United Methodist Church at the Chicago Temple, Chicago, Illinois
- June 6, 2019 | CAN (Chicago Cable Access Network) TV19
- June 7, 2019 | CAN TV19
- June 21, 2019 | CAN TV19
- June 22, 2019 | CAN TV19
- June 23, 2019 | CAN TV19
- July 6, 2019 | CAN TV19
- July 23, 2019 | CAN TV19
- August 29, 2019 | Islamic Society of North America Conference 2019, hosted by Faith Over Fear, Houston, Texas
- October 30, 2019 | Siena College, Loudonville, New York
- November 17, 2019 | Indian Boundary Park, Chicago Park District, Chicago, Illinois
- November 18, 2019 | Indo-American Center, Chicago, Illinois
- November 21, 2019 | Northtown Branch, Chicago Public Library, Chicago, Illinois
- December 3, 2019 | Design Museum of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
- December 4, 2019 | High Ridge YMCA, Chicago, Illinois
- January 17, 2020 | Asian Human Services, Chicago, Illinois
- January 23, 2020 | Middle Eastern Immigrant and Refugee Alliance, Chicago, Illinois
- February 16, 2020 | Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, co-sponsored with American Islamic College and Chicago Theological Seminary, Chicago, Illinois
- March 2, 2020 | Benedictine University, Lisle, Illinois
- May 11, 2020 | Asian Human Services, hosted online, Chicago, Illinois
- May 18, 2020 | DePaul University, hosted online, Chicago, Illinois
- August 6, 2020 | Houston Coalition Against Hate, hosted online, Houston, Texas
- October 8, 2020 | DePaul University, hosted online, Chicago, Illinois
- March 31, 2022 | Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago, Illinois
- October 10, 2022 | The Saints, Chicago, Illinois
- March 23, 2023 | Ohio Northern University, Ada, Ohio