[1] The show was inspired by a 2011 photograph taken by Ed Ou for The New York Times of young Egyptian activists looking at a computer screen.
[3][5] However, as events continued to unfold, the Lazour brothers decided the show needed to include the aftermath of the protests as well.
[3][6] Early drafts of the show told the story non-linearly, but the decision was eventually made to stick to a chronological telling of events.
[10][12] The production used projections to create outdoor scenes and to show actual social media posts, footage, and photographs from the 2011 protests.
[14][18][19][20] Six young Egyptian students from the American University in Cairo (Amir, Fadwa, Hany, Hassan, Karim, and Layla) meet in a warehouse to discuss demonstration tactics ("Loud Voice").
[19] After a student is killed by the Egyptian police, the six take to the streets and to social media to protest ("Flap My Wings").
[19] The act ends with the students protesting at Tahrir Square and Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak being ousted from power ("The 18 Days").
[13] Hany believes the results of the free election should be respected, while Fadwa disagrees, thinking Morsi is just as much of a tyrant as Mubarak.
[18] The Lazours have cited Sayed Darwish, Ramy Essam, Fairuz, Umm Kulthum, and Sheikh Imam as musical influences.
[28] The show received mixed to negative reviews from the Arts Fuse,[29] The Boston Globe,[22] and The Theatre Times.
[31][32][33] Vulture noted "the Lazours have crafted a piece that is long on emotion with melodies that can burn with revolutionary fervor, if at the expense of clarity and structural coherence".