“This Is Who I Am” Community Events
Engage more deeply with This Is Who I Am through community events hosted by our amazing group of partner organizations.
All events are FREE and take place online.
Schedule of Events
Audiences are welcome to join a post-show meet-up after select matinee performances of This is Who I Am. Guests from community partner organizations will kick off the conversation, which will be a space to reflect, connect, and build community together.
Please note: In the event there is a technical pause during the show, this event will begin 10 minutes after the show ends.
Schedule
Saturday, 12/19: Hosted by Oregon Shakespeare Festival with Noor Theatre at 2:25 PST/3:25 MST/4:25 CST/5:25 EST
Saturday, 1/2: Hosted by American Repertory Theater with Boston Palestine Film Festival at 2:25 PST/3:25 MST/4:25 CST/5:25 EST
Join the Event
https://harvard.zoom.us/j/99457968229
Join by telephone (use any number to dial in)
+1 929 436 2866
+1 301 715 8592
+1 312 626 6799
+1 669 900 6833
+1 253 215 8782
+1 346 248 7799
International numbers available: https://harvard.zoom.us/u/ac9fyypPdM
One tap mobile: +19294362866,,99457968229# US (New York)
Meeting ID: 994 5796 8229
RESISTANCE: THE JOYS, THE HEARTBREAK, AND THE FOOD:
A Virtual Roundtable Discussion Featuring Middle Eastern and North African Artists and Arts Administrators from Around the World
Sunday, December 20th
2pm EST / 1pm CST / 11am PST / 12pm MST
Streamed live on PlayCo’s Facebook page and YouTube channel
No registration or login is required
PlayCo presents a free, virtual roundtable discussion entitled Story as Resistance: The Joys, The Heartbreak, and the Food, this Sunday, December 20, at 2pm EST (1pm CST, 11am PST) as part of our Idea Lab Series. For Story as Resistance: The Joys, The Heartbreak, and the Food, PlayCo has convened an extraordinary group of artists and organizations from across the U.S. and around the world, who are leading conversations about, and changing representations on stage of, the Middle Eastern diaspora. They include Nora El Samahy, Resident Artist and Board President at Golden Thread Productions; Lameece Issaq, actor, writer, and Founding Artistic Director of the Obie-winning company Noor Theatre; Hannah Khalil, whose A Museum in Baghdad was the first play by a woman of Arab heritage to be produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company; Jamil Khoury, Co-Founder and Co-Executive Artistic Director of Silk Road Rising; and Pirronne Yousefzadeh, writer, director, and co-founder of Maia Directors. Catherine Coray, Arts Professor at NYU Tisch School of the Arts and Director of The Lark Middle East-US Playwright Exchange, moderates the conversation.
Attendees with accessibility needs may contact Carolina Do, PlayCo’s Community Engagement Associate, at cdo@playco.org. A transcript of the discussion will be made available after the event.
+ BIOS
Catherine Coray is an Arts Professor at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and is the Director of The Lark Middle East-US Playwright Exchange. She curated/convened/produced In The Same Room: Middle Eastern Women in Theater at the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute in NYC (2014); the 2016 Middle East America convening at The Lark (2106); the Arab Voices: here/there/then/now festival at the NYU Abu Dhabi Arts Center(2016); and Arab Voices: Stories of Palestine (Beirut, 2018.) Most recently, she curated Arab Voices: Three New Dramatic Texts from Beirut and Berlin, at the NYUAD Institute in NYC (April 2019.) Catherine is an Affiliate Producer with Noor Theatre, and a member of The Lark Artistic Cabinet and serves on the advisory boards of The Mercurian translation journal, The Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics, the American Friends of the Ludwig Foundation for Cuban Art (AFLFC), Arab Stages and the Advisory Council of the Lebanese American University Communication Arts Division.
Nora El Samahy was born in Tripoli, Libya and raised in Cairo, Egypt. She is a company member of Campo Santo and Playground and a Resident Artist at Golden Thread Productions. In 2018 she performed in kitchens all over the Bay Area in Golden Thread’s production of Oh My Sweet Land, by Amir Nizar Zuabi. She has acted with Alter Theater, Aurora Theatre, Crowded Fire, Magic Theatre, foolsFURY, Traveling Jewish Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Exit Theater, Theatre Rhinoceros, Woman’s Will, Shotgun Players, The San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, and African American Shakespeare Company, among others. In 2013, El Samahy founded a performance company called Affinity Project with Atosa Babaoff, Beatrice Basso and Emily Hoffman. She currently serves as the President of the Board of Trustees with Golden Thread.
Lameece Issaq is an actor, writer and Founding Artistic Director of the Obie-winning company Noor Theatre, dedicated to the work of theater artists of Middle Eastern descent. Issaq has appeared in several regional and off-Broadway theater productions, including The Fever Chart and Stuff Happens (Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Ensemble) at the Public Theater, The Black Eyed at New York Theatre Workshop and Noura at The Old Globe, among others. She has written various short plays produced in The New York Arab-American Comedy Festival; as well as Noor & Hadi Go to Hogwarts (Theater Breaking Through Barriers, Golden Thread Theater); and Nooha’s List, part of the compilation play Motherhood Outloud (Hartford Stage, The Geffen and Primary Stages). Her full-length play Food and Fadwa, 2011 recipient of the Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award, premiered off-Broadway at New York Theatre Workshop, a production she co-produced and starred in, and in which Variety magazine praised her performance as “stunning.” Food and Fadwa was a part of the Arab Voices Festival in both Abu Dhabi and Beirut and was published in the anthology “Contemporary Plays By Women of Color,” second edition. She also co-wrote the feature film Abe, directed by Fernando Grostein Andrade and starring Stranger Things’ Noah Schnapp, which premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. She is currently developing her solo play A Good Day to Me, Not to You, a fictionalized story based on her time living in a woman’s rooming house run by nuns. Issaq is a member of The Dramatists Guild, AEA and SAG-AFTRA. She was a 2016 NYFA Finalist in Playwriting/Screenwriting.
A writer of Palestinian-Irish heritage, Hannah Khalil was the recipient of the Arab British Centre’s Award for Culture in 2017. Her stage plays include A Museum in Baghdad, which ran at the Swan Theatre at the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2019-20 and marked the first play by a woman of Arab heritage at the RSC; Scar Test, at Soho Theatre; the acclaimed Scenes from 68 Years, shortlisted for the James Tait Black Award; and Interference, for the National Theatre of Scotland. Khalil’s radio plays include The Unwelcome, Last of the Pearl Fishers, and The Deportation Room* for BBC Radio 4. Khalil Is currently under commission to The Globe Theatre in London, Chichester Festival Theatre, The Kiln in Londo, and Golden Thread in San Francisco. She is developing an original television series with Netflix Arabic.
Jamil Khoury is the Co-Founder and Co-Executive Artistic Director of Silk Road Rising, an art-making and arts service organization that shapes conversations about Asian, Middle Eastern, and Muslim Americans. A theatre producer, playwright, essayist, and filmmaker, Khoury’s work focuses on Middle Eastern themes and questions of diaspora. He is particularly interested in the intersections of culture, national identity, religion, and belonging. Khoury holds a M.A. degree in Religious Studies from The University of Chicago Divinity School and a B.S. degree in International Relations from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. He is a Kellogg Executive Scholar (Northwestern University) and has been awarded a Certificate of Professional Achievement in Nonprofit Management. Among the numerous honors Khoury has received, he is the 2017 recipient of The University of Chicago’s Diversity Leadership Alumni Award, the 2015 recipient of the Community Leader Award from the Association for Asian American Studies, and the 2013 recipient of the ChangeMaker Award from South Asian Americans Leading Together. In 2014, Khoury and his husband Malik Gillani were inducted into Chicago’s Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame.
Pirronne Yousefzadeh is a director, writer, co-founder of Maia Directors, and the Associate Artistic Director and Director of Engagement at Geva Theatre Center. She has a passion for new work that centers and uplifts the stories of global majority communities and has developed and directed work extensively regionally and in New York City. Some of her recent credits include The Wolves by Sarah DeLappe (Actors Theatre of Louisville, the world premiere of Kid Prince & Pablo by Brian Quijada (Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts), Queen by Madhuri Shekar (Geva Theatre Center), and The Royale by Marco Ramirez (Kitchen Theatre/Geva Theatre Center). She is currently developing new works with writers including Sanaz Toossi, Ramiz Monsef, Nikki Massoud, and Vichet Chum. Pirronne is a Usual Suspect at New York Theatre Workshop, New Georges Affiliated Artist, member of Ensemble Studio Theatre, Wingspace, and the Drama League Directors Council, and an alumna of the 2050 Fellowship at NYTW, Sagal Fellowship at Williamstown Theatre Festival, SDC Denham Fellowship, Lincoln Center Directors Lab, Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, New Georges Jam, and Drama League Directors Project. She was a finalist for the 2020 Zelda Fichandler Award from SDC and is a proud member of the union. M.F.A., Columbia University.
Art Talk with Oregon Shakespeare Festival
Featuring playwright Amir Nazar Zuabi, director Evren Odcikin, Associate Artistic Director, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and dramaturg, Joseph Haj, Artistic Director, The Guthrie Theatre.
Monday, December 21 at 12:30 PM PST / 1:30 PM MT / 2:30 PM CT / 3:30 PM EST
Link for joining this Zoom event: osfashland.zoom.us/j/91475626127
Art Talk puts the art front and center. Engage as we dive deep into conversation with thought leaders and theatre makers. This conversation will feature THIS IS WHO I AM playwright Amir Nazar Zuabi, director Evren Odcikin (Associate Artistic Director, Oregon Shakespeare Festival), and dramaturg Joseph Haj (Artistic Director, The Guthrie Theatre).
Screen reader support enabled.
Previous Events
Community Partners
Thank you to the many partners who made all these events possible!
+ Restaurant Partners
Thank you to QANOON, TANOREEN, and MANOUSHEH,
PlayCo's New York Restaurant Partners!
Qanoon is guided by Chef Tarek who’s on a personal journey to celebrate the culture of Palestine, his love of food, and taking care of people by serving the dishes he grew up eating at his mother’s, Rasmyee, table in NYC. Everyone who eats at Qanoon becomes a member of Tarek’s extended family. Outdoor dining, take out, and gift cards are available. Website | Instagram
Tanoreen, a longtime outpost of Palestinian cuisine in Bay Ridge, was opened by Chef Rawia in 1998, now jointly run with her daughter, Jumana. As the years have passed the menu has proudly evolved to embrace new flavors and influences to enliven and enrich. Outdoor dining, takeout, and gift cards are available. Website | Instagram
Manousheh is a homestyle bakery in NYC, serving delicious variations of flatbread. Their hope is to create an environment where those who’ve never been to Lebanon leave with the goal of visiting, and for those who’ve been, to leave feeling like they just had a real taste of Beirut. Outdoor dining, takeout, catering, and gift cards are available. Website | Instagram
Thank you to FOODHINI and MAMA AYESHA'S ,
Woolly Mammoth's Washington D.C. Restaurant Partner!
Foodhini is an online restaurant that hires emerging immigrant and refugee chefs, supporting them in preparing and selling their delicious and authentic home recipes from around the globe directly to you. Enjoy 15% off your next order with promo code WOOLLY15. Check out the menu here! (Promo code valid December 5, 2020 – January 3, 2021. Delivery limited to Washington, D.C. and select neighborhoods in Virginia and Maryland.) Website | Instagram
Mama Ayesha Abraham was born in the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem in the late 1800’s. After running 24 farms by the age of 21, she came to the United States in the late 1940’s and was hired as a cook for the Syrian Embassy. She opened the Calvert Cafe in 1960 and following her death in 1993, the restaurant was renamed in her honor. Now run by her nephews and great-nephews, Mama Ayesha's memory and Middle Eastern recipes remain -- including fatayir! Click here to access the full menu.
Website | Facebook
Thank you to ANDALA COFFEE HOUSE,
American Repertory Theater's Boston Restaurant Partner!
Andala Coffee House brings the culture and tradition of the old City of Jerusalem to Cambridge with its warm atmosphere and delicious authentic Middle Eastern food and drinks. View the special menu put together by owner Sami Herbawi, and order take away by calling 617-945-2212 or online via GrubHub. Website | Instagram
THANK YOU to WORLD STREET KITCHEN,
Guthrie Theater's Twin Cities Restaurant Partner!
World Street Kitchen is the brainchild of brothers Saed and Sameh Wadi. A neighborhood restaurant born from the popularity of their trailblazing food truck that features flavors from across the globe -- it's cooking without borders. Throughout the run of This Is Who I Am, enjoy a Hummus Bowl that fuses the unusual combinations of flavors and textures that are signature to WSK. And for a sweet treat, stop by MilkJam Creamery -- the Wadi's ice cream shop -- for a take-home sundae after the show! Website | Instagram
Thank You to XERXES MEDITERRANEAN GRILL in Ashland, OR
and REEM'S in San Francisco, CA,
Oregon Shakespeare Company's Restaurant Partners!
Xerxes Mediterranean Grill serves fresh and wholesome Greek and Mediterranean-style food, inspired by dishes owner Ben Pazzira learned to cook at his mother’s knee in Persia. Try the mouthwatering gyros, falafels, salads and more. And don’t miss the Greek fries—which are legendary! Order online or by calling 541-301-9866. Website | Facebook
Experience the warmth of Arab hospitality this holiday season with a holiday spread from Reem’s! Place your order online, call in, or order at the door. Delivery to select neighborhoods in partnership with Candlestick Courier Collective. 2901 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA. (415) 780-1953. Website | Instagram
+ Programming Partners
The following organizations are helping us lead meet-ups, talkbacks, roundtables and more throughout the run of This Is Who I Am!
Noor Theatre
Noor Theatre is an Obie-winning company dedicated to supporting, developing and producing the work of theatre artists of Middle Eastern descent. Our programming supports work at different stages of development, whether early drafts of new plays or world premiere productions. Through our Highlight Reading Series, co-presentation partnerships with universities and other organizations, and premiere productions or 48 Hour Forum, we aim to create exceptional work that transcends cultural boundaries and speaks to all people.
Website | Social: @noortheatre
Silk Road Rising
Silk Road Rising is a community-centered art-making and arts service organization rooted in Asian, Middle Eastern, and Muslim experiences. Through live theatre, digital media, and arts education, we challenge disinformation, cultivate new narratives, and promote a culture of continuous learning.
Website | Social: @Silk_Road
Golden Thread Theatre
Golden Thread Productions, founded in 1996, is the first American theatre company devoted to the Middle East. We produce passionate and provocative plays from or about the Middle East that celebrate the multiplicity of its perspectives and identities. We are a developmental catalyst and vibrant artistic home to artists at various stages of their career. We bring the Middle East to the American stage, creating treasured cultural experiences for audiences of all ages and backgrounds.
Website | Social: @goldenthread
Maia Directors
Maia Directors is a consulting service for organizations and artists engaging with stories from the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia (MENASA). We are advocates for the inclusion of MENASA artists and stories as a vital part of the American cultural conversation. By making this work visible, we make it possible. Current and former clients include Actors Theatre of Louisville, California Shakespeare Theater, Playwrights Horizon, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Big Bridge Theatre Consortium, Pan Asian Rep, and StoryWorks, among others.
+ Outside Programming
Hungry for more? These organizational partners across the United States are regularly producing arts and culture events.
Boston Palestine Film Festival (Boston, MA)
Palestinian American Community Center (Clifton, NJ)
Palestine Museum (Woodbridge, CT)
Alexandra Aron / Remote Theater Project
Middle East Institute (Washington, DC)
Virtual Art Exhibit: Browse MEI's Art Sale Supporting Middle Eastern Artists. Art in Isolation: Creativity in the Time of COVID-19
Iraqi American Reconciliation Project (IARP) (Minneapolis, MN)
+ Ambassador Partners
Special thanks to all the partners who spread the word about This Is Who I Am!
Palestine Museum in CT Website | @PalestineMuseum.US
Iraqi American Reconciliation Project (IARP)
Middle Eastern Children's Alliance Website | @MECAforPeace
The Freedom Theatre // Friends of the Jenin Freedom Theatre NY Website | Facebook