Review Fix Exclusive NYMF Coverage: Aya Aziz Talks ‘Eh Dah’

Review Fix chats with Aya Aziz, who discusses her unique one-woman musical “Eh Dah,” which is set for a six-show run at this year’s New York Musical Festival.”

About The Production:

“Ghetto-Hippie-Arab-Commie-China Doll” Aya was shaped by the eclectic community of New York City. But Aya’s father, an Egyptian-American world-traveler, remained a mystery, as did her Muslim family. In this solo musical, Aya enacts the world she came from and the family she went in search of. With a range of accents, voices, and zany characters, Aya’s story deals with contemporary conflicts – identity, the culture war, Islamophobia, all while asking Eh Dah – what is this?!

For more on the production, click here.

Review Fix: What was the inspiration for Eh Dah?

Aya Aziz: I think the inspiration for Eh Dah? was really the music. I’d been writing since I was about 12 years old. My songs were my diary entry. When I was given an opportunity to perform them the story that wove these songs together poured out of the music. 

Review Fix: What do you think makes it special?

The show explores the avenues of assimilation and touches on the magic of finding home in an unfamiliar place. The characters of this show are what make it special; they are torn between their desire for acceptance and their fear of loss. But despite their foreignness, their goofy, imperfect, beautiful, humanity draws us to them as people.

Review Fix: What do you want the audience to get out of the production at the New York Musical Festival?

Aziz: To see ourselves in the “other”.

Review Fix: How do you want it to be remembered in a few years?

Aziz: As a good time.

Review Fix: Bottom line, why should someone see Eh Dah?

Aziz: Eh Dah follows a young woman as she tries to grow closer to her Egyptian father and his side of the family. It explores both the freedoms and the pressures associated with living in 20th century North America as an Arab American migrant. The magnificent awkwardness of teenage identities grown somewhere between “East” and “West” make the foreign familiar.

Now more than ever we need to hold onto each other. We are all we have.

Review Fix: What’s next?

Aziz: Next I’ll be working on my EP and a play about Egypt and the Arab Spring as told through the eyes of my cousin: an activist, actress, and pantomime living in Alexandria. My dream is to write the play with her and find a way to bring her to New York for the summer so that she can take the stage. She is a phenomenal actress.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13819 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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