That night, Mariam is worn out by all the bad news and snaps at her son, Emil. Sonia calls Wael, and he insists that his decision to quit the play is final. The next morning, Mariam confirms that Wael told her the same thing. Sonia calls her sister to tell her the news about the play. Haneen suggests they go to Jerusalem to participate in the protest against the mosque restrictions. Sonia talks to Mariam, and she suggests there is a silver lining that Wael quit. Because he was one of the most expensive actors, without him in the play, the fact that they have now lost the funding Salim arranged—which the Israeli security forces discovered—is less of an issue.

The actors decide to rehearse at the theater to give Mariam a break. A theater staffer named Dawud unlocks the doors for them. During a break, Sonia talks to Faris, one of the actors who runs a community theater in Bethlehem. He tells her the heyday of Palestinian theater was the 1970s and early 80s when the idea was “you can do resistance without going full-on political […] You could be subtle […] without preaching, without slogan” (245). He describes a popular play from this period called al-Atmeh (Darkness).