Esho Rasho is a clever man: his coming of age solo show Dummy in Diaspora at Jackalope Theatre manages to pull together several of-the-moment societal narratives in a delightful 70 minutes that is revealing, vulnerable and reads true. We journey with him through his adventures coming out as gay, being a child of refugees, growing up in Arab culture and navigating being a child of devout Christians. The simple carpet filled stage becomes the night club, his family home, his evolving world and his view of it as he goes from naive to a little wiser. We see him mature before our very eyes.
Rasho starts the show with a harrowing depiction of his birth – an emergency c section due to an umbilical cord wrapped around his throat. The dual nature of life which is both tragic and beautiful continues through the show. He will continue to ask the age old question: why am I here, and play with the answer maybe I should not be like a cat with a mouse through the evening.
Rasho vapes throughout the show, using the smoke clouds as a special effect but also demonstrating his nicotine addiction. He also utilizes a device of shedding and donning shirts for sections of the narrative that is a physical demonstration of shedding his skin and others' expectations as he enrobes himself in a new identity. As a third culture kid trying to fit in to a world that views most of the parts that he is building his selfhood with as “other”, he deftly makes his way. His is a journey of claiming space despite all the forces working against him. In telling this story he is telling a particularly American story even as it incorporates his family and their history as Assyrians who fled wars in the Middle East. Rasho’s tale embodies a kind of hope that if you keep going, you will come out ok, and you’ll be packing a good story for your descendants to tell.
I found it fascinating that his name is the Assyrian word for Jesus: the reference gives his memoir a certain resonance. Is this attractive, agnostic young man anyone’s Messiah? Is he a new kind of hero?
This is a charming and compelling offering at one of Chicago’s most unusual small theatre spaces: Jackalope Theatre is tucked inside the maze that is the upstairs of the gargantuan Broadway Armory Park (which is a building not an actual park). It’s a bit of a challenge for differently abled theatre goers, but once you get there they are inclusive, accommodating and downright friendly.
Dummy in Diaspora is playing Fridays through Mondays until March 23, 2025 at the Broadway Armory Park, 5917 N. Broadway in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood. For tickets and information go to https://www.jackalopetheatre.org/dummy-in-diaspora
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