Anthropologists of Islam (Samuli Schielke, Lara Deeb, and Saba Mahmood) recommend that in studying Muslim societies we need to examine “everyday” life experiences, “notably the ambivalence, the inconsistencies and the openness of people’s lives that never fit into the framework of a single tradition.” Drawing on such pluralistic interpretations of religiosity and community norms, this paper examines the way quotidian lives of young Middle Eastern couples, characterized by their ambivalences, tensions, and disillusionment, are dramatized in three plays from Egypt, Iran, and Syria. These plays indeed destabilize the stereotypes we often receive about the well-grounded modest Muslims who are capable of living a re-assured, self contented self (Nafs Al-Mutmainnah). My three case studies: Egyptian Products by Laila Soliman (Egypt, 2008), Dance on Glasses by Amir Reza Koohestani (Iran, 2001), and Withdrawal by Mohammad Al Attar (Syria 2008) all dramatize a true portrayal of tensions and vulnerabilities of young Middle Eastern men and women in their domestic setting and in moments of decision-making. Value crises, anxiety, miscommunication, sexual oppression, sense of entrapment, hesitation, ethical dilemmas, and withdrawal are common threads woven in the storyline of these plays that are all written by the new generation of Middle Eastern playwrights. Moreover, the plays’ new, vivid, and sharp language along with their unique poetic realism, pose important questions about what it means to live in today’s Middle East as a young artist and what ethical responsibilities artists have in caring for their selves and their societies. A comparative examination of the thematic and aesthetic features of these three plays also sheds light on the particularity and universality that young dramatists reveal in their artistic visions and practices. 1. Schielke, Samuli. “Second Thoughts about the Anthropology of Islam, or How to Make Sense of Grand Schemes in Everyday Life.” ZMO Working Papers 2, 2010.