Omar Offendum’s Little Syria

Fresh off the heels of 3-sold out shows at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in May, world-renowned Syrian-American MC / Poet Omar Offendum brings this jewel of a show to HERE. In this creative retelling of a little-known part of NYC history, Offendum – accompanied by the masterful Ronnie Malley (Oud / Piano) and the talented BK-born beatmaker Thanks Joey – draws an audience attuned to stories of immigration, xenophobia, and the ever-evolving notion of an American dream. Set in the Lower West-Side neighborhood of Manhattan once known as Little Syria, just south of the current World Trade Center on Washington Street, this vibrant cultural hub for New York’s Middle Eastern immigrants was home to artists and intellectuals like Kahlil Gibran & Ameen Rihani. Against this backdrop, Offendum’s genre-bridging performance—spanning Hip-Hop, Arabic instrumentation, Spoken Word poetry and Hakawātī oral storytelling traditions of the Levant—imagines early 20th-century life in the heart of this nation’s very first Arab-American community.

This show is co-sponsored by Race Forward’s Butterfly Lab, in support of building new narratives for a pro-immigrant future

Until further notice, all patrons attending HERE performances and events will be required to wear masks (KN95 or KF94 masks are strongly recommended). 

Proof of vaccination is no longer required.

We ask all audience members to please stay home if they have a sore throat, are feeling sick in any other way, or have been recently exposed to COVID-19, and to please contact the box office for refunds or exchanges.

All of our performers, technicians, and staff members are required to be fully vaccinated and masked unless they are onstage performing. Additionally, they are participating in an active testing regimen to keep everyone as safe as possible.

HERE reserves the right to revise protocols as the rate of transmission changes and in light of new scientific data that may present itself.