InterAct Theatre Company and Theatre in the X present Antu Jacob’s On My Deen

Yacob, working in collaboration with Philadelphia's Black Muslim community, has crafted something rare in American theater: a play that treats religious conversion not as crisis or spectacle, but as a deeply personal journey toward wholeness. Under Amina Robinson's thoughtful direction, this occasionally uneven but ultimately heartwarming production finds its strength in the specificity of its world and the warmth of its central performances.

Fervor and humanity

The play follows Faye Ann (Satchel Williams), who has just embraced the Nation of Islam, and her lifelong friend Michael (Travoye Joyner), whose romantic hopes are complicated by their divergent paths in life. For Faye Ann, that’s college and eventually medical school to become a gynecologist. For Michael, it’s two terms in the Vietnam War and his return to the States.

Williams brings a mix of determination and vulnerability to Faye Ann (who later takes the name Fatima), capturing both the fervor of newfound faith and the very human desire to define herself on her own terms. Her performance is effective in showing how religious commitment can be both liberating and constraining—a woman seeking to take ownership of her body and self while navigating the expectations of what it means to be a good Muslim wife and mother.

Joyner matches her with a performance that explores Michael's patient devotion to Faye Ann, while also capturing the weight of his experiences as a Black man who served twice in the Vietnam War. His portrayal of Michael's depression and PTSD from his military service provides complexity, making their ongoing dance of connection and separation feel both inevitable and heartbreaking. The supporting ensemble, including Newton Buchanan, Kimmika L. H. Williams-Witherspoon, and Evander Duck Jr., provides solid grounding for the play's exploration of community and belonging.

A tonal shift

Robinson's direction is most confident when focusing on the intimate moments between Faye Ann/Fatima and Michael, but the production faces a challenge with Najah Imani Muhammad's Jamilah, who serves as both a character in the drama and a kind of audience surrogate. Initially appearing to be a disruptive audience member, Jamilah's interjections and commentary create a deliberate theatrical device that doesn't always land smoothly. Muhammad's performance operates on a different tonal register from the rest of the cast—more contemporary and irreverent where they maintain the heightened, pronounced diction of traditional theater—creating moments that feel genuinely disruptive rather than meaningful as she learns Fatima and Michael’s story at the same time as the viewer.

This tonal shift represents two very different generations, and while it creates some disruptive moments, it doesn’t detract from Jamilah’s essential purpose in the story (nor Muhammad’s great acting).

A natural spirituality

What emerges most powerfully is the play's approach to religious conversion and its celebration of the varied ways to be Black in America. Rather than treating Faye Ann's embrace of Islam as a source of conflict or otherness, Yacob presents it as a natural response to the spiritual and social needs of a young Black woman in 1960s America. The play finds genuine humor in the characters' debates about faith, politics, and even pie-making, while treating their spiritual seeking with deep respect. For audiences from different faith backgrounds—whether Southern Baptist like me or otherwise—the production offers a reminder that the divine and life's hardships can be understood through many lenses, all seeking the same fundamental truths.

The production benefits enormously from its community collaboration, bringing an authenticity to the details of Muslim life that feels lived-in rather than researched. While the exact title phrase may not be spoken, Jamilah refers to Fatima’s journey as being "on your deen"—the commitment to faith and its way of life runs through every scene like an underlying current. The title phrase, meaning a dedication to living according to Islamic principles and teachings, captures the play's exploration of what it means to align one's life with divine guidance.

Grounded in West Philly

The production design helps ground the play in its West Philadelphia setting, placing most of the play in the kitchen of a West Philly row home, with Marie Laster's set providing a strong foundation for what's to come. Tiffany Bacon's costume design particularly shines, showcasing the various ways the Muslim community dresses and highlighting the importance of the hijab to Fatima, including the early renditions that were only available during the 1960s.

A promising start for the Philly Cycle

As the first production in InterAct's ambitious Philly Cycle, On My Deen establishes a promising template for community-centered theater-making while serving as a loving tribute to West Philadelphia and its Muslim community. It succeeds in creating space for voices and stories rarely centered on American stages.

Robinson's direction honors both the play's spiritual dimensions and its very human comedy. In its best moments—and there are many—On My Deen offers something lovely and needed for these times: a portrait of faith as a source of strength, community as a chosen family, and love as something that transcends the boundaries we try to impose on it.

The play may not answer all its questions about faith, friendship, and belonging, but in its exploration of what it means to live according to one's deepest convictions, it finds something more valuable: a reminder that the search for meaning is itself a sacred act.