#hadi tabbal
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Hadi Tabbal who played Amir on #TheBrave posted a beautiful tribute to Anne Heche on his IG page.
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Play review (long post)
Review: In ‘Russian Troll Farm,’ You Can’t Stop the Memes
An unlikely dark comedy imagines the people pushing #PizzaGate, Donald Trump and who knows what next.
No one misses the early days and dark theaters of the Covid pandemic, but the emergency workaround of streaming content was good for a few things anyway. People who formerly could not afford admission suddenly could, since much of it was free, and artists from anywhere could now be seen everywhere, with just a Wi-Fi connection.
That’s how I first encountered “Russian Troll Farm,” a play by Sarah Gancher intended for the stage but that had its debut, in 2020, as an online co-production of three far-flung institutions: TheaterWorks Hartford, TheaterSquared in Fayetteville, Ark., and the Brooklyn-based Civilians. At the time, I found its subject and form beautifully realized and ideally matched — the subject being online interference in the 2016 presidential election by a Russian internet agency.
“This is digitally native theater,” I wrote, “not just a play plopped into a Zoom box.”
Now the box has been ripped open, and a fully staged live work coaxed out of it. But the production of “Russian Troll Farm” that opened on Thursday at the Vineyard Theater is an entirely different, and in some ways disappointing, experience. Though still informative and trenchant, and given a swifter staging by the director Darko Tresnjak, it has lost the thrill of the original’s accommodation to the extreme constraints of its time.
Not that it is any less relevant in ours; fake news will surely be as prominent in the 2024 election cycle (is Taylor Swift a pro-Biden psy-op?) as it was in 2016. That’s when, as Gancher recounts using many real texts, posts and tweets of the time, trolls at the Internet Research Agency — a real place in St. Petersburg, Russia — devised sticky memes and other content meant to undermine confidence in the electoral process, sow general discord, legitimize Trumpism and vaporize Hillary Clinton.
Egor (Haskell King) is a friendless, robotic techno-nerd who just wants to win the microwave oven that’s a prize for productivity. Steve (John Lavelle) is a Soviet revanchist who calls the Enlightenment a mistake and Gorbachev the “world’s biggest cuck.” Nikolai (Hadi Tabbal) is a moony screenwriter manqué who thinks what he does is evil but still wants “to do a good job at it” — causing Steve, who went to junior college in California, to deride him as a “human latte” and a “performative bookstore tote bag.”
The fourth troll is the newbie, Masha (Renata Friedman). A disillusioned journalist who took the job at the agency for the pay, she wants nothing more than to move to London and recover from Russia by doing yoga. Naturally she becomes the focal point of several interconnected bids for love and dominance among Steve, Nikolai and Ljuba, whose bureaucratic fury belies a troubled emotional life beneath.
The snappy dialogue draws moderate laughs, often by squeezing banal office politics against the scarier kind. (“No Nazi content unless specifically requested by supervisor,” Ljuba warns the others.) But though Gancher subtitles the play “a workplace comedy,” you may in the end be left wondering what’s funny. The trolls’ various schemes for advancement and connection all end disastrously, as many in the audience surely feel the election did, too. Nor does it help that the cast works so hard to get a response from the audience, sometimes annoyingly demanding participation and thus a kind of complicity.
Complicity was not of course possible in the no-longer-available 2020 streaming production, which required viewers to process it on the fly, in much the way they process social media, deciding for themselves what to laugh at — and what to ponder, repost or trash. Lacking that formal congruence, the live “Russian Troll Farm” has a temperature problem: Instead of cool, it feels overheated; instead of suggestive, prosaic.
It was likewise unsettling, in 2020, that you never quite knew where the characters existed, except in the electronic ether; now, on Alexander Dodge’s white box set, they are fixed in a highly specific, nonvirtual space, with ergo chairs and a photo of Putin. Likewise, the ear-scratching interstitial noise (by Darron L West and Beth Lake) and strobey light (by Marcus Doshi) and projection effects (by Jared Mezzocchi) are almost too gorgeously professional, failing to reproduce the deliberate crudeness of the original’s fuzz, pixelation and green-screen blur.
Crudeness is key. Not only does it elicit the poetry of Gancher’s writing, which despite its shiny surface has depth; it is also expressive in itself, because crudeness is a hallmark of the trolls’ greatest hits. Egor considers his English spelling mistakes (“libral” for “liberal”) a useful way of promoting engagement. People who comment on the errors are merely being pulled even farther into the web — and the whole point of the troll farm, as an author’s note points out, is “to stir up trouble.”
At that, it succeeded, though Russia has no patent on trolls. Indeed, the Internet Research Agency shut down last year, collateral damage from the Wagner Group rebellion, but fake news has never been riper. It’s just more local. I suppose “Russian Troll Farm” wants us to consider whether we would participate in its strange, chaotic economy of lies if given the opportunity — and a microwave.
Russian Troll Farm: A Workplace Comedy
Through Feb. 25 at Vineyard Theater, Manhattan; vineyardtheatre.org. Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes.
Jesse Green is the chief theater critic for The Times. He writes reviews of Broadway, Off Broadway, Off Off Broadway, regional and sometimes international productions. More about Jesse Green
A version of this article appears in print on Feb. 9, 2024, Section C, Page 3 of the New York edition with the headline: Even in Person, They Just Can’t Stop the Memes. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
#refrigerator magnet#russian troll farm#drama#play#live theater#theater#theatre#sarah gancher#playwright
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#seal team#seal team cbs#jason hayes#david boreanaz#clay spenser#emma hayes#max thieriot#adam dalton#bravo#natacha karam#hadi tabbal#aj buckley#sonny quinn#justin melnick#soldier#seal team season 2#seal team season 3#seal team season 5#neil brown jr#ray perry#tyler grey#trent sawyer#dita the hair missle#drawing#art#fanart
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News from The Brave alumni Hadi Tabbal
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Natacha Karam's insta story :
The cast of The Brave ?❤️
Doing a table read
#natacha karam#mike vogel#anne heche#hadi tabbal#the brave nbc#nbc the brave#the brave#bts#table read#season 1#the brave cast#cast#mine
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#FBI#jake fletcher#maggie bell#ahh i miss the brave i'm still p'd off about that show getting cancelled#hadi tabbal#needs a new show#but wait does fletcher go to prison in the end#or is he free#//
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agents rivera & al-raisani
clouds and eclipses stain both moon and sun.
― shakespeare
(found this in my drafts and knew i’d planned on posting it with an update for dark circles but who knows if that’s ever gonna happen anyways i miss these two, and this show, and my shipping buddies @reallyoptimisticfangirl @stupid-jeans)
#The Brave#hannamir#Hannah x Amir#hannah rivera#amir al raisani#otp#sofia pernas#hadi tabbal#the brave nbc#nbc the brave
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1x08 STEALTH
#the brave#1.08#joseph mcguire#amir al raisani#ezekiel carter#noah mills#hadi tabbal#demetrius grosse#loukaporseries
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Jazton Blurbs: Prompts #8, 15, 19
A/N: As requested by @allbe0418 about a million years ago, I’ve got some Jazton blurbs for y’all today below the cut! It’s from that prompt list I posted back in, like, January oops... Many apologies because I couldn’t come up with anything for 18 (angst is tough for me, my dudes), BUT I went for it on the others. They’re in chronological order, rather than numerical, so that’s why the numbering is out of whack.
Also, I don’t actually ship Jazton (oops?), so I had trouble finding the inspo to write them romantically. Still, I hope this is in line with their characterization and their dynamic and that you enjoy! xo, christina
Characters: Jaz Khan and Adam Dalton (primarily), Joseph McGuire, Preach Carter, Amir Al-Raisani, Hussein Larijani
Requested?: Yes/No
Total WC: 1385 (this got out of hand, but then again, my writing always does lol)
Requests: Open!
#19: Things You Said When We Were The Happiest We Ever Were (WC: 206)
[A/N: I tweaked the prompt a little... it’s more from Dalton’s POV rather than a mutual memory]
Between the missions, the wedding, the anniversaries, the kids and the little forever they had carved out together, Jaz and Adam had a lot of good moments over the years. But for Adam, there was always one moment that made his chest feel all gooey and warm. (Which is ironic, because in the moment, he was two milliseconds away from a bullet in his brain.)
They were thousands of miles from home, beneath an overpass in a kill box of a city, sabotaging an Iranian secret police convoy in order to rescue Jaz. Call Adam crazy for saying that was the happiest moment of his life, but when the doors of the truck swung open and revealed Jaz’s squirming and bloodied- but very much alive- form, it was only the adrenaline pumping through Adam’s veins that kept him from collapsing from relief and sobbing from happiness as McG performed a few basic first aid measures.
“I got you!” Adam assured her breathlessly as he and McG hoisted her out of the truck and transported her into the back of the van that Amir, Preach and Hussein had just arrived in. “I got you! You’re alright!”
Their girl- Adam’s girl- was alive and they were going home.
#15: Things You Said With Too Many Miles Between Us (WC: 452)
Jaz sat at the kitchen table alone, waiting for the kettle to steam and the water to boil. In the days following the mess in Tehran, Grandma Carter’s No-Fail Nap Time Tea had been essential to getting a good night’s sleep, especially since the guys were gone. Without them, home was eerily quiet and her only company was Patton and Xander, which was truly depressing. But, if all went to plan, they should return from Bogota soon enough.
Speak of the devil- the sat phone was vibrating on the communications desk, right next to the laptop that DIA sent their mission directives through. Jaz shot out of her seat and lunged for the phone. It had to be one of the guys checking in from Bogota. She hoped they had good news.
She pressed the phone to her ear. “Hello?”
“Jaz, hey.” Dalton’s voice came through the line, calm and collected. “It’s Dalton.”
“Hey, Top.” She smiled softly. “How was the mission?”
“Successful. How are things there?” He asked before she could ask for any more details, which Jaz was certain was intentional.
“Everything’s good.” She assured him. “I took Patton for a run and then hit the gym. I played some video games and beat my own high score for the hell of it. I was about to rack up when you called.”
“Oh-ho-ho,” He laughed. “Somebody’s getting cocky.”
Jaz smirked as she repeated the words she had said to Xander not too long ago. “Nobody beats me.”
“Maybe at video games, but just wait until we get back to the shooting range.” He teased lightly.
“We’ll see about that.” She chuckled. “How are the-?”
A muffled voice cut in that was too quiet for Jaz to discern to whom it belonged. “Top, stop pretending like you can’t hear me. You’re not that far away!”
“Who’s there?” Jaz asked curiously.
“Nobody,” Dalton responded immediately. “You were saying?”
“I was gonna ask how the team is doing.”
“It was a close shave, but everybody’s-” Before he could finish, Jaz heard a voice that sounded like McG’s arguing in the background: “Come on, Top! Tell Jazzy I said hi. I know she misses me!”
“Yeah, right, Joseph.” A second, sarcastic voice remarked. That must be Amir.
“What are you two, twelve?” A third voice, serene and deep, asked. Given the tone, the last voice was Preach for sure.
“Would you guys be quiet?” Dalton hissed, annoyance lacing his voice, before remembering Jaz was on the line. “Uh, sorry, Jaz. That was just the guys being... them.”
“It’s fine.” She said lightly before adding, “Hey, Top?”
“Yeah?”
She smirked. “Would you tell them I said hi?”
Dalton groaned, but Jaz could hear him smiling.
#8: Things You Said When You Were Crying (WC: 727)
[aka a continuation of That Fire Pit Scene from 1x11]
The boys had returned from Colombia earlier in the afternoon and Xander had cleared Jaz that morning, which called for the traditional team celebration- horseshoes, beers, and grilling.
Jaz was happy they were back; being alone on base felt wrong. She missed the smell of Amir’s cooking; the sound of Preach’s soft and affectionate tone that he used when talking to his girls; the thrill that shot up her spine when she would beat Top in their weekly Tuesday target practice competition at the range. Hell, she even missed the way McG teasingly called her Jazzy, which might have been a sign that the Apocalypse was imminent. Or maybe she just really wanted things back to normal. All she had while they were gone were video games, sessions with Xander and Patton, the couch-hogging, slobber-kissing Wonder Dog.
The evening was casual, the food was good, and the nighttime sky was chilly. After the others had gone to bed, Jaz and her CO sat in front of the fire, sharing a blanket, sipping beers and watching the fire flicker in front of them. Their conversation had ventured into uncharted waters-- to Top’s past, before Jaz had known him.
“To do the things we do… you have to be able to tap into another part of yourself. But I don’t like that guy, that Adam Dalton.” He looked back at her, eyes shining with tears. “But he’s a part of me and he doesn’t go away.”
For a few moments, the only sound was the crackling of the flames in the fire pit. Jaz didn’t know what to do or say. Top wasn’t one to wear his heart on his sleeve, to bare his feelings to anyone; he liked to keep his emotions in check and his feelings close to his chest. He would argue that emotional control was a prerequisite to do his job.
That being said, people don’t typically share their innermost thoughts unless they want a response, so Jaz scooted closer to him and looped an arm around his shoulder in a show of support. She didn’t know if he was looking for more- and maybe, just maybe, she hoped that he was- but once that line was crossed, they couldn’t go back. She had to be sure and she just wasn’t yet, so she held herself back.
Dalton gripped his beer bottle in his hand tightly, like it was a stress ball. “In Tehran, after you were taken, I shot a civilian in the leg just because I wanted information. It was out of left field, but my body just did it, like it was the natural thing to do.”
“When I had the shot on Jarif, I felt the same thing.” She squeezed his shoulder comfortingly. “It’s reflexive. You use your best judgment in the moment, but the bond we have as a team causes us to do some crazy-looking shit.”
His bright blue eyes met her dark ones and she could’ve sworn she saw a glimmer of mirth there as he murmured, low and slow. “Sometimes we have to improvise.”
She nodded, one of the corners of her mouth turned up into a soft smile. “And sometimes we don’t sleep so well afterward, but we learn from it and we strive to do better.”
Dalton took a deep breath, wiped the tears away, reached for her hand and squeezed it gently. He offered her a small, tight, appreciative smile. “Thank you, Jaz- really. Another day of these thoughts rattling around in my head and I would’ve had to check myself in to see Xander.”
She laughed quietly at that. “While that’s always a good option to have, I’m always around to talk, too.”
“Noted.” He yawned and stretched his hands over his head, out of her embrace. “I’m beat. I’m gonna go rack up. You should probably do the same.”
“Wouldn’t want to mess with your beauty sleep schedule.” She teased with a smile.
“You know you wouldn’t.” He teased, scooped up their empty beer bottles and trudged off toward the bunks.
She was too lost in her thoughts to respond immediately, so he was already out of earshot when she replied, “Night, Top” to the inky Incirlik sky.
Jaz stayed up for a while after that, watching the flames of the fire slowly die off, wondering when things had become so complicated.
#jazton#adam dalton#jaz khan#jaz x dalton#joseph mcguire#preach carter#amir al-raisani#hussein larijani#patton#the brave nbc#request#mine: blurbs#mike vogel#natacha karam#noah mills#demetrius grosse#hadi tabbal
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McAmir/McMir png by @andywalkerx
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→ AMIRTON || Dalton x Amir || THE BRAVE || S01E02 vs S01E08 || Dalton’s nickname for Amir.
#thebraveedit#mike vogel#adam dalton#hadi tabbal#amir al-raisani#dalton x amir#the brave nbc#the brave#amirton#amirtonedit#there might be other instances of this#but for now#these two should do#ugh amir is such a puppy!!! <3#and then dalton treating him as such... <333#ugh! I'm dead#winifredwevansedits
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Amir cooking shakshuka for the team - The Brave s01e07
#the brave#hadi tabbal#amir al-raisani#hands#cooking#he's pure#107#one of the only things i loved in that episode#we need more domesticity
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Bravers! Hadi Tabbal back on our tv screen!
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some shots of our kickass cast training together
#the brave#the brave nbc#nbc the brave#Adam dalton#joseph mcguire#amir al raisani#jaz khan#preach carter#Mike Vogel#hadi tabbal#natacha karam#noah mills
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