Mary Under Occupation + “Maryam: A Woman of Bethlehem”

In occupied Bethlehem, two Muslim actresses rehearse a play that explores what Mary/Maryam (the mother of Jesus/Isa in Christianity and Islam) means to modern-day Palestinians. The American playwright weaves the voices of 22 interviewees into a production that allows the actresses to voice both their feminism and their resistance to the occupation in the same way that Mary resisted Roman occupation. The film culminates in the performance of the play “Maryam: A Woman of Bethlehem” at San José State University where the actresses introduce themselves and Palestinian culture to a U. S. audience, hoping to break widely held stereotypes about Muslims, Christians, and Palestinian people. Playwright, theater director, and Roman Catholic woman priest, Victoria Rue moderated the session and showed additional excerpts of the play “Maryam: A Woman of Bethlehem.”