Ara the Handsome was an Armenian man who like all Armenian men was incredibly handsome. He was so handsome that the Assyrian Queen wanted to marry him. But Ara was married and faithful to his wife so he refused. The Assyrian Queen was having none of this so she she sent her entire army to go capture Ara and bring him to her but they killed him and brought his dead body back. She was so sad that she took his corpse up to the roof of her castle and begged the gods to bring him back from the dead. The moral of the story is that all Armenian men are incredibly handsome and amazingly devoted to our wives. Basically, we’re the best catch.

Background Information: Alex Chinian’s family is originally from Armenia. He heard this story from his grandmother.

Context of the Performance: The story was performed in my dorm room at USC.

My Thoughts on the Piece: Alex’s performance was hilarious and I loved how he used the story to prove a point he wanted to make about himself. It’s been interesting to see how folklore lives and is reused to serve modern needs but never have I seen it used so shamelessly.