When Musa met Sheri, sparks flew—and a one-night stand turned into a many-night stand. Which is really happy news, unless you’re Musa’s fiancée.

If this is the part where you write Musa off, don’t: You’re all but definitely going to like him, philandering or not. Yussef El Guindi’s Pilgrims Musa & Sheri in the New World, a Mosaic Theater Company production now playing at Atlas Performing Arts Center as part of its Voices from a Changing Middle East Festival, is a witty, provocative romp through cross-culture idiosyncrasies and assumptions, featuring a stellar five-person cast.

On their first night together, Musa (Ahmad Kamal) invites Sheri (Rachel Felstein) up to his tiny, “butt-ugly” apartment. He’s a sweet, gentle cab driver newly arrived in this unnamed American city from Egypt, a Muslim who goes to the mosque mostly to see his friends and is eager to explore his new home. She’s a lively, slightly neurotic waitress noted for a tendency to choose the wrong man. His name means Moses; hers references a drink her alcoholic mother enjoyed. When Sheri discovers she’s the first American woman Musa has been with, she’s surprised: “You give off a been-around-the-block vibe,” she says. “Maybe because I drive a taxi,” he replies.

A month later, the pair is enjoying domestic bliss when Gamila (Sanam L. Hashemi), Musa’s Muslim-American fiancée, struts in, back earlier than expected from Egypt. She examines Sheri’s miniscule pair of red underwear, discarded on the floor, before properly meeting its owner. She’s wearing traditional Muslim headwear, which would make anyone look overdressed compared to the naked Sheri. Gamila appreciates modesty, as she informs her unexpected competition.

Pilgrims is a dichotomy: a raunchy, fun rom-com, for sure, but also a thoughtful meditation on merging disparate worlds and making a new home away from home. Director Shirley Serotsky skillfully blends levity with timely, complex questions. Musa and Gamila lack a physical connection—they have yet to seal their engagement with so much as a kiss—but the pairing roots both of them to their religion and home.

“Do not mistake the woman who gives you pleasure with the woman who will surround you with things that feed you,” Musa’s friend Tayyib (Gerrad Alex Taylor) warns him. Musa protests: “I don’t want roots! I don’t want the rest of my life to be what I know.”

Ultimately, Musa has to choose whether he’ll make a new history with Sheri, or honor the old with Gamila. Does love know cultural bounds? That’s for Musa to determine. But one thing’s clear: The love triangle, in all its entertaining, train-wreck glory, is universal.