Lincoln Center Festival: While I Was Waiting

Digging into the story of one middle-class Damascus family, the celebrated Syrian team of playwright Mohammad Al Attar and director Omar Abusaada offer a gripping portrait of a country trapped in a gray area between hope and despair.

Brutally beaten at a checkpoint, 30-year-old Taim is admitted to the hospital in a coma. As his loved ones gather around him, they must face a reality defined by uncertainty and absence. What happened to Taim? Will he ever wake up? How has their vibrant, modern city become so strange and cruel? Unable to communicate, Taim lingers on the stage, an observer and commentator, as long-buried secrets and complicated relationships are revealed.

Inspired by a true story, the play weaves together different layers of consciousness, humanizing the situation in Syria and collapsing the distance between the Syrian people and the rest of the world.