The Heart

NO: Advance + Advance

[Ep 1 of 4] Inside a locked diary are the hopes and dreams of a little girl who wants one thing more than everything else: this little girl wants to be wanted.  [TW: SA]When the little girl becomes a teenager and her deepest want comes to pass, it turns out she doesn't want it. She wanted. . . something else. Something more?  Something less? Something sweeter. She doesn't know exactly what she wants, but she learns the hard way what she does not want. "Advance" a non-psychedelic trip into my girlhood was originally produced in May 2017. It was named after the type of advance that is made flirtatiously (or threateningly or shyly and on and on).  In this 2025 update we lean into the double meaning: HAVE WE ADVANCED ON THESE ISSUES SINCE 2017? OR HAVE WE...RETREATED? ['retreat' is listed as the opposite of the word 'advance' on dictionary dot com. Not a word we generally use in reference to this topic, and yet it feels like an interesting way to look at what we usually call "regression"]. Listen to decide for yourself, and then send us a voicememo with your thoughts to kaitlin@mermaidpalace.org. 2025 UPDATE FROM KP: Drove by North Dundas the other day on a joyride. The smoking tree is not small anymore. DONATE to support the creation of a final episode detailing all that happened after this famed series aired; friendships rekindled, apologies made, mistakes repeated, lessons learned and unlearned and never learned and will we ever learn.  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

NO: Again? Again.

Revisiting NO: after 8 years and several disappointing hook-ups wherein KP found herself wondering if the world forgot the lessons that shook 2017; she decides it's high time to listen again to the series that brings you inside of a 'no' that sounds like a 'yes', and all the 'yes's that really wanted to be 'no's. -----------Donate to Mermaid Palace! Exciting new projects incubating in need of anti-capitalist support aka indie financing. Thank you to all who already donate, it makes a big difference and we love you

EPILOGUE | Letter to Gaza

In 2024 Ashtar Theatre started a new project: letters to Gaza. During the Leo Season Birthday extravaganza, KP, Tarneem and Ahmad all created audio art in what they called "Mermaid Palace: the Cairo Office" aka: the very spacious air bnb KP rented where they each had a room and a desk to create at. When Tarneem sat down to write a letter to her home, this work of poetry emerged in only a couple of hours. We didn't edit a single word. It’s been 6 months since she left her home in the north of Gaza. Every day she watches the news and prays for her family, her friends, her people. She waits for the world to wake up. She waits to see her pain reflected and acknowledged. Heartbroken and determined she wonders, “are we not even entitled to nostalgia?”The letter was written and recorded by Tarneem Jaber, age 19. Music and sound design directed by Ahmad Jaber.HELP AHMAD ENROLL IN UNIVERSITY: He found a university in Turkey that will accept his credits and let him continue from where he left off. We need 7k more to make enough for tuition! GET THIS YOUNG MAN INTO SCHOOL HERE.

AHMA-NOLOGUE | An Anniversary + A Birthday

This episode was named months ago: a prayer, a wish shared by one Tarneem Jaber and one Kaitlin Prest. "THE GENOCIDE IS A MEMORY, NOT AN ANNIVERSARY". On the anniversary of the genocide has gotten even more terrifying as we mark an entire year of slaughter, terror and complacency. Also: an entire year of collaboration, awakening and care. Ahmad Jaber celebrates a birthday that only reminds him of the year of his youth he has lost. In the penultimate episode of the series, KP, Ahmad, Tarneem and the rest of the team take stock of the past, the future and the way we and the world will never be the same. Help Ahmad Jaber enroll in University HERE. He is the only one of the Jaber siblings that remains to be enrolled in school: he only needs 7k to make enough for international student fees in Turkey. You will understand more about why Turkey is the place to go in the episode :)

MONOLOGUE#10 | Whatever You Build + Empty Cans

Artist and business owner Doreen Toutikian, founder of Beirut Design Week (and many other beautiful things that she’s had to leave in her past due to war) sits down with KP on February 23rd 2024 and performs monologue #10: Taima Okasha. She reflects on growing up hiding from bombs, the “Palestinian exception” anti-Palestinian racism in the arts and her fears of what might happen to her own home, Lebanon, if Israel is not stopped. Six months and many voice memos later, some of the fears Doreen expressed in her interview start to occur as Israel attacks Lebanon. "This is some black mirror shit. We've never seen anything like this." says Doreen. Support Doreen's newest venture Omgyno!Help the Jaber Trifecta finish med school!