SU to present Muslim standup comic Shazia MirzaOctober 11, 2004Amy Schmitzaemehrin@syr.edu
Syracuse University will present a performance by a female, Muslim standup comic-maybe the only one in the world. Shazia Mirza will perform at on Oct. 25 at 8 p.m. The performance will take place in the Rose and Jules R. Setnor Auditorium in Crouse College. It is free and open to the public.
Mirza burst onto the standup scene in 2000 and has since gained international notoriety, playing to sold out audiences in Europe and the United States. At the London Comedy Festival, she won the 2001 Hackney Empire Best New Act competition and the 2002 Metro Magazine People’s Choice Best Comic Award.
“As a gifted and insightful comedian, Mirza uses humor to prompt people to think more deeply about cultural differences in contemporary society,” says Cathyrn R. Newton, dean of The College of Arts and Sciences.
Originally from Birmingham, England, Mirza’s act revolves around her Muslim faith; she often performs in recognizable hijab dress and begins her act with the remark, “My name is Shazia Mirza. At least, that’s what it says on my pilot’s license.”
Mirza’s performance at SU is part of Syracuse Symposium 2004: Humor. The event is co-sponsored by Kaleidoscope and U-Encounter.
Syracuse Symposium is an intellectual festival, hosted by The College of Arts and Sciences, which celebrates interdisciplinary thinking, imagining and creating. Other keynote speakers and performers scheduled for this semester include writer and satirist P.J. O’Rourke (Oct. 19); New Yorker cartoon editor Bob Mankoff (Oct. 28); University of Chicago philosophy professor Ted Cohen (Nov. 11); and actress and performer Anna Deavere Smith (Nov. 18).
