Inspired by the 2010 “ground zero mosque” controversy in New York City, playwright and Silk Road Rising co-founder, Jamil Khoury, set out to investigate resistance to the building of mosques in communities across the U.S., and the intersections of Islamophobia, zoning, and public policy. Khoury developed a nine-step process that includes digital and live theatre components, and invites virtual and live audiences to weigh in on artistic decision-making and matters of civic importance. This first-of-its-kind initiative crowdsources its creative processes and encourages open, unfiltered public dialogue.

The Mosque Alert project ultimately generated its own constellation of works, including a staged theatre production, a series of video essays, and long afterlives for the individual video plays.

Films:
Meet Mosque Alert & Character Shorts
Obstacle Course
The Imam & the Homosexual
both/and

Theatre:
Mainstage Production

Staged Readings:
Mosque Alert at Queen's College
Mosque Alert at North Central College
Mosque Alert at Silk Road Rising
Mosque Alert (Achtung Moschee)
Mosque Alert in Washington, D.C.
Mosque Alert (Achtung Moschee)
Mosque Alert at Benedictine University

Press:
"Silk Road Rising makes us all playwrights,” WBEZ Chicago, April 8, 2013
"Arts Across Illinois - Mosque Alert,” Chicago Tonight, WTTW Chicago, Jul 22, 2013
"Mosque Alert,” Naperville Community Television, Mar 20, 2015
"It's life imitating art imitating life,” Marie Wilson, Daily Herald, Aug 3, 2017