Does My Head Look Big in This? (A Play)

Cast: 10m., 10w. (can be as small as 3m., 7w., 3 either gender, with doubling suggestions). High school is tough enough without throwing a hijab into the mix! Amal is a typical American suburban teenager at a typical American high school. She has a crush on a boy, dreams about her first kiss and loves shopping, Twitter and Facebook. Funny and irreverent, Amal has a comeback for everything and everyone. Then one day, Amal surprises herself, her parents, her friends and school administrators when she shows up at school wearing a hijab headscarf. Amal is an American Muslim who had made the biggest decision of her life: to wear the Muslim head covering full time! She makes this decision based on her desire to properly practice her faith, in spite of parental warnings and the ostracizing and bullying that follow. She faces the fallout of her decision with humor and intelligence. This coming-of-age play explores the complicated emotions and issues that American Muslims, and especially American Muslim teenagers, face. An ideal tool for teaching tolerance, the story of Does My Head Look Big in This? raises three questions: What's it like to be a Muslim teenager in America today? How do distortions about any faith gain so much power? What are the emotional consequences for a teen forced to defend his or her faith?