Arab American Theatre Caught in Censorship: A Study of Betty Shamieh’s Roar and The Black Eyed
Dr. Yasser Fouad Selim

Abstract
This paper deals with the restrictions of literary censorship imposed upon Arab American theatre. Giving literary analysis to Betty Shamieh’s Roar and The Black Eyed, this study explains how Arab American playwrights, who could find a chance after 9/11 to voice out Arab American concerns, are caught on the radar of censorship which limits and deforms the image of Arab America they present. In Roar and The Black Eyed, Shamieh presents a confused image of the Arab American experience in order to conform to a publishing industry and white readership more interested in Arab exoticism than Arab Diaspora and political and cultural marginalization. The study explains how Arab American playwrights are still wandering and looking for artistic freedom in order to express their obsessions without being oppressed.

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