This 'My Fair Lady' star understands the stigma of language firsthand

Seattle’s Paramount Theater is hosting the new Lincoln Center Theater production of “My Fair Lady,” a musical about class, prejudice, and being an outsider.

An English phonetics professor appalled by the Cockney speech of a young flower seller? That’s relatable for the actor playing the lead. Shereen Ahmed’s mother teaches English as a second language, and one of her mom’s students was Ahmed’s father, an Egyptian immigrant.

“When I was around my dad, we would be treated very differently than when I was just around my mom — probably because of how he looked, but also his speech and his language and his accent,” Ahmed said. “I'd walk into a restaurant, and my dad would ask, ‘Can we have a table for five?’ We’d see a bunch of tables open, and it's like, ‘No, we can't seat you, we won't seat you.’ ”

Ahmed is the first actress of Arab Muslim descent to play Eliza Doolittle in a major American production. At first, she said, that felt like a burden. She didn’t want to represent an entire huge, diverse community; didn’t want to be pigeonholed as an Arab-American actor.

“It wasn't until I received some letters from women all over the world, saying, ‘Hey, I see myself in you,’ that I realized it's not about me, actually. It's actually about — the door is open now. My first letter, a girl from Iran who was planning to come to the US to study acting … she saw a picture of me as Eliza with my hair, that represents my people and my community, and she was like, ‘I never thought I would be able to see someone like me on stage in a golden age musical.’ … That was a really special gift.”

Ahmed said people often assume that the highlight of the show for her would be singing “I Could Have Danced All Night” or “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?” But she says her favorite part is when Eliza learns how the upper class pronounce, “The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain.”

“Something about saying a lyric over and over and over again, and getting better and better and better at it. You feel it from the audience, really rooting for Eliza," Ahmed said. "Because of my identity, I felt like an outsider. And seeing Eliza surpass those obstacles and be able to find her own path, her own journey in this world was really inspiring for me."