How to Have Fun in a Civil War | Somalia / USA – March 20

Minnesota-based Somali playwright and performer Ifrah Mansour revisits her childhood memories during the 1991 Somali civil war to confront violent history with humor and provide a voice for the global refugee stories of children. How to Have Fun in a Civil War, is a one-act multimedia play, which explores war from an idyllic viewpoint of a seven-year-old Somali refugee girl. The play weaves puppetry, poetry, videos and multiple oral stories taken from community interviews to tell a captivating story about resilience while pushing the audience to engage in a healing process that is still raw for survivors of the war.

Ifrah Mansour is a Somali, refugee, muslim, multimedia artist and a teacher based in Minnesota. Her artwork explores trauma through the eyes of children to uncover the resiliencies of minorities. She interweaves poetry, puppetry, films, and installations that elicit a multi-generational conversations. She’s been featured in BBC, Vice, Okayafrica, Thrillist, MiddleEast Eye, Star Tribune, and City Pages. Her critically-acclaimed, “How to Have Fun in a Civil War” premiered at the Guthrie Theatre and toured to metro-cities in Minnesota.

Runtime: 50 minutes

Age Recommendations: Best enjoyed by ages 6 and up

The show touches on these topics: Refugee children survivors telling their own stories; understanding the refugee experience from refugees and forced migration; building understanding and empathy for black muslim, refugees through the arts; understanding kids, and their communities with (adverse Childhood Experiences); creating a safe platform to learn about ongoing and historic traumas from survivors; building a platform for young kids to converse with older generations about trauma and healing in different cultures.

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