Finished: Disgraced (Akhtar). Pulitzer-prize winning play that rips right into that oft avoided topic at dinner parties...religion. Manhattan attorney, Amir Kapoor, and his white wife, Emily, have her art dealer friend, a Jewish man, and his wife, an African American woman, over for dinner. We've already seen when we first meet Amir that he's anxious about becoming the next partner in his law firm and being American born, but with parents from Pakistan, he's worked his butt off to make a name for himself, all the while distancing himself from any Muslim roots whatsoever. His wife, on the other hand, is an artist who paints with an intense Islamic theme in her head and heart. Amir is going along pretty well until his nephew comes and begs Amir to show up at the hearing for a local imam from his mosque. The imam has been arrested on trumped up potential terrorist money-raising charges. When Amir shows up at the hearing, not to represent, but to support, the NY Times quotes him and implies that his firm is defending the imam. This does not sit well with Amir's Jewish law firm partners. On the day of the dinner party, Amir has already had a tense meeting with one of the partners, who didn't know that he'd changed his name from his parents...and...who didn't know that Amir's parents were Pakastani, since Amir had put Indian on his application. He's arguing with his wife, who he felt pushed him to go and support his nephew's imam...and the dinner guests show up early. As it turns out, Jory, the wife of the art dealer, is also a partner at the law firm with Amir and unbeknownst to Amir, she has been offered a partnership that should have rightfully gone to Amir. Also, unbeknownst to Amir or Jory...Emily and Isaac, the art dealer, had a one night stand after one of her art shows in London. As the foursome settles down for dinner and the drinks flow, religious talk ensues and things get very dicey between all four. All kinds of intense anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim, and even an anti-African American is thrown in to the conversation. I think there are definitely words said that would make most play-goers squirm in their seats. For instance, as much as Amir has distanced himself from his culture, and doesn't approve of the restrictions of the Koran on "his people", he said he couldn't help but have a smidgen of "we won" pride when 911 happened. Needless to say, his wife, Isaac and Jory are appalled. Amir tries to say to Isaac, come on...are you telling me that you don't get the least amount of pride when Israel bombs someone? Anyway...things go downhill from there. When Amir leaves to clear his head and pick up something else for the party, Jory goes with him and intends to tell him about her partnership offer. When they leave, Isaac, who has never been able to stand Amir, puts the moves on Emily and tries to kiss her, but she pulls away from him...but not before Jory comes bursting back through the door because her talk with Amir didn't go well, and sees them. It's a huge mess. Jory and Isaac leave, and Emily confesses to Amir that she did, a long time ago, have the one night stand with Isaac. Amir once again goes back to something they were talking about that night, something that Amir has worked hard to distance himself from...how the women in the Muslim religion must submit to the men or be beaten and/or killed. He gets volatile and severely hits Emily three times. In the last act of the play, Amir is alone in the apartment packing up their belongings. Emily comes in, but it's clear that she's leaving him. Also clear is that he's lost his job. What a nightmare, an intense one...and what a scary thought that scenes like this could really be playing out today.