In 2016, I came across two articles while doing research for a play I wanted to write in my second year at Columbia’s Playwriting program. The first article, from 2015, was on HuffPost, titled “Mothers of ISIS,” which detailed the harrowing journey of mothers from around the world who, in their desperation, combed through grainy execution videos for clues—eyes and limbs through slits in clothing, a familiar gesture—fearing and hoping to recognize their own children among the executioners.

This article haunted me. In an era when we were beginning to question the very nature of truth—where facts became "relative" and news "fake"—I could not fathom the unbearable psychological toll on a parent forced to navigate this murky media landscape to find their child, not to mention grapple with the possibility that their child might be a terrorist.

The second article (also from 2015) was from The Times: “Three women scam ISIS into handing over cash with fake accounts,” about three Chechen women who swindled ISIS into giving them £2,000 by claiming they needed travel money to “join their cause” in Syria, and how these women were then (drum roll) convicted for their actions. The story was treated with a mixture of humour and dismissal across several news outlets, revealing a deeply rooted cultural cynicism—one that pointed to a troubling truth… I found it decidedly amusing (let’s use that word for now…) that governments did, of course, condemn terrorists, but perhaps not as much as they denounced women. (Yes, sentencing amateur swindlers instead of using the scam to trace the whereabouts of terrorists is, decidedly, amusing.)

I tried to reconcile these two stories at the time, but it wasn’t until eight years later, reflecting on the tumultuous year of 2016, that I found a home for them in FISH. Set against the backdrop of 2016, in a drastically shifting landscape of London, the play became a coming-of-age narrative, not just for the characters within, but for the world they inhabited, which was wrestling with its own loss of a certain kind of “innocence.” 

2016 was a pivotal year for the books—the rise of Trumpism, Brexit, the attempted coup in Turkey, Russian interference in the U.S. elections, and the continuing devastation of the Syrian war marked a profound shift in global consciousness. It was the year where distrust, alienation, and misinformation reached a fever pitch, seeding the divisive, disparaging semi-virtual world we now inhabit. 

FISH is a dark comedy. It is a meditation on the dangerous intersection of media, femaleness, invisibility, isolation, and how these shape young identities, and familial relationships. It explores the absurd consequences of a world drowning in doubt and loneliness—where the lines between truth and falsehood, morality and survival, are perpetually blurred. It reflects a time when the overload of information we consume—so often flawed, sped up, manipulated, and propagandized—warps our perception of reality, leaving us to question not only our leaders, but the very foundations of our personal values and beliefs. What is the place of morality in a world like this? Where do we place our grief? How do we fill the void? To what lengths will we go to find our place?

Howard Zinn, in his essay The Optimism of Uncertainty, emphasizes that optimism is rooted in recognizing the unpredictable aspect of human history. Bernard Beckett describes optimism as facing the uncertainty of the future. Ultimately, the question I would like to pose for us all through this story is: How do we learn to live— and live well— with this uncertainty?

-- Melis Aker

09.20.24 - 09.22.24

Setting: 2016, London.

A developmental commission by Signature Theatre Company.

RUNNING TIME:
90 minutes with no intermission

Support for LaunchPad is provided by Pablo Salame, and by the Estate of Judith Champion.

The Pershing Square Signature Center is situated on unceded traditional lands of the Munsee Lenape, the Canarsee, the Wequaesgeek and the Siwanoy. Our territory currently known as New Yorek City originates from the indigenous population that once inhabited the area of Manahatta and its collective five boroughs within Turtle Island.

To the region of Lower Manahatta we are indebted to the Canarsee whose Chief Seyseys , met with the Dutch. To the region of Upper Manahatta we give reverence to the Wequasgeek, whose territory encompassed the Bronx and whose Chief Meijeterma, met with Jonas Bronck.

Let this our Land Acknowledgement be the beginning of our return to unity, not just of each other but to the awareness that we are truly a part of the earth. Let us now walk with the knowledge that each and every one of us is a guardian of most importance, as we were put upon this Turtle Island not to seek dominion but as Care takers, as Two leggeds, to protect and to grow each other, to love and offer kindness. We are here to ensure that the gifts of earth, water, and air remain pure and whole, and so let us be guardians of the earth, the water, and the air, the 4 legged, fliers, the swimmers, the crawlers, the mammal people and the green. In this way we honor the land which gives us life, we honor the lives & culture forsaken, and we honor the prospect of renewed alliances.

Moreover, let this moment of recognition be a monument of action. Action that is fortified with a cooperative spirit and reverence for our traditional ways. Let it be the beginning of hope for this our Turtle Island in the land of the Munsee.

Let us now stand lifting our humanity, enrapturing with the earths conscious as guardians of harmony and kindness, as we pay respect to all of our ancestors and to future generations.

We are the Lenapehoking today, and will be for the remaining days of tomorrows...*Keepers of the Pass.

*This acknowledgement demonstrates our ongoing commitment as a community working to dismantle the continued legacies of colonialism, oppression, and systematic racism. We offer a pledge of Social Justice awakening, and education in order to raise the level of awareness and to ultimately strengthen the communal fabric which includes outreach with out indigenous neighbors. In this way, out collective voices can disrupt the patterns of social injustice through reverence of the Native People who share their land and by revitalizing Indigenous history through Indigenous specific programming.

Signed x Chief Dewaine Perry *Ramapugh-Lunaape; Munsee
Co-Signed x Oleana Whispering Dove; Author & Museum Docent
*EasternTsalagi/Algonquian descendant