By Jackie Demaline
The Cincinnati Enquirer

In the fifth draft of Paradise, which playwright Glyn O'Malley presented as a work-in-progress in December, the central characters are Sarah and Fatima.

Sarah is an American-Israeli teenager, daughter of divorced parents, who has just moved from California to Jerusalem to live with her mother. Sarah is having trouble adjusting and pours her passion into photography.

Fatima is a Palestinian teenager who dreams of being a writer. She is in love with Shadi, who wishes to leave the "hell of a Refuge camp, from the pains of this divided land, from the madness of this Intifada."

The mysterious character "Kafir" takes on many guises to move the story along, always toward the point where the girls' lives will intersect.

News broadcasts report violence in the region as the tension in the play escalates. Fatima's beloved brother Ahmed (never seen) has joined terrorist group Al Fatah. During the course of the play, Fatima, who originally regards her brother as a fanatic, becomes obsessed with avenging his eventual death. The action culminates in Fatima sacrificing herself in a suicide bombing, also taking the life of Sarah.

In the epilogue, Shadi and Sarah's mother mourn. Sarah's mother asks the audience "...Is there a war, of any kind, anywhere, which (children) have begun? Have children beat the first drum, rolled out the first tank?

"We have the questions..." she says, and Shadi finishes, "but no answers."