Middle Eastern & North African

Ismail Khalidi

Representative Plays:

Returning to Haifa (2018)
Sabra Falling (2017)
Foot (2016)
Tennis in Nablus (2010)
Truth Serum Blues (2005)

Bio:

Born in Beirut to Palestinian parents and raised in Chicago, Ismail Khalidi is a playwright and director who has written, directed, performed, curated and...

Heather Raffo

Representative Plays:

Nine Parts of Desire (2004)

Bio:

Heather Raffo is the solo performer and writer of the Off Broadway hit, 9 Parts of Desire which details the lives of nine Iraqi women. For her creation and performance of 9 Parts and its national and international tour, Heather garnered many awards including a Lucille Lortel Award, and the prestigious Susan Smith Blackburn and Marian Seldes- Garson Kanin playwriting awards, as well as Helen Hayes, Outer Critics Circle and Drama League nominations, for outstanding performance.

...

Hassan Abdulrazzak

Representative Plays:

The Special Relationship (2020)
And Here I Am (2017)
Love, Bombs, and Apples (2016)
The Prophet (2012)
Baghdad Wedding (2007, 2009, 2010)

Bio:

Hassan Abdulrazzak is of Iraqi origin, born in Prague and living in London. He holds a PhD in molecular biology and has worked at Harvard and Imperial College.

Hassan’s first play Baghdad Wedding, was staged at Soho Theatre in 2007 to great acclaim. It went on to have productions in Australia and India and was also...

Torange Yeghiazarian

Representative Plays:

Isfahan Blues (2015)

The Fifth String: Ziryab’s Passage to Cordoba (2014)

444 Days (2013)

Bio:

Torange Yeghiazarian(she/her) is the Founding Artistic Director of Golden Thread Productions, the first American theatre company focused on the Middle East where she launched such visionary programs as ReOrient Festival, New Threads, Fairytale Players, and What do the Women Say?, and timely initiatives such as Islam 101 and Project Alo? Torange has been...

Yussef El Guindi

Representative Plays:

Refugee Rhapsody (2020)
Hotter than Egypt (2019)
Ten Acrobats in an Amazing Leap of Faith (2018)
Back of the Throat (2006)

Bio:

Born in Egypt, raised in London and now based in Seattle, Yussef El Guindi’s work frequently examines the collision of ethnicities, cultures and politics that face Arab-Americans and Muslim Americans. El Guindi holds an MFA in playwriting from Carnegie-Mellon University, and has worked as a playwright at Silk Road Rising; literary manager for Golden...

Yasmina Reza

Representative Plays:

God of Carnage (2006)
The Unexpected Man (1995)
Art (1994)

Bio:

Yasmina Reza is a French playwright and novelist based in Paris whose works have all been multi-award winning, critical, and popular international successes. Her play God of Carnage (2012) was previously produced by the Huntington. It also won the Olivier and Tony Award for Best Play and a film version, directed by...

Sa'adallah Wannous

Representative Plays:

Hanthala's Journey from Slumber to Consciousness (1978)
The King is the King (1977)
Elephant, the King of All Times (1969)

Bio:

Saadallah Wannous (1941–1997) was a SyrianplaywrightHis career as a playwright began in the early 1960s with several shortplays which were characterized by a display of his fundamental theme: the relationship between the individual and society and its authorities. In 1969, joined by a group of playwrights, Wannous called for an Arab Festival...

Naghmeh Samini

Representative Plays:

Sleeping in an Empty Cup
Sky Horses Rain Ashes
Making Faces
The Home
Born in 1361

Bio:

Naghmeh Samini (PhD), playwright, scriptwriter and lecturer in Dramatic Arts, was born in Iran and received her BA in Drama and MA in Cinema from the University of Tehran. She did her PhD in Art Studies at the University of Tarbiat Modarres in Tehran with a thesis focused on Drama and Mythology.

More than twenty of her plays have been staged in Iran, France, India, Canada, the...

Mohammad Yaghoubi

Representative Plays:

A Moment of Silence (2016)

Bio:

Mohammad Yaghoubi is a multi-award-winning playwright, director, screenwriter, theatre instructor, producer, co-founder and artistic director of NOWADAYS THEATRE. His works have been performed around the world, including including Adana, Austin, Brussels, Calgary, Dallas, Montreal, Muelheim, Prague, San Francisco, Sidney, Stockholm, Strasbourg, Sulaymaniyah, Tehran, Toronto, Vancouver, and Washington. He staged the English premiere of his highly acclaimed play A...

Tawfiq al Hakim

Representative Plays:

The Tree Climber (1966)
The Sultan’s Dilemma (1960)
The Song of Death (1952)

Bio:

Tawfiq al-Hakim or Tawfik el-Hakim was a prominent Egyptian writer and visionary. He is one of the pioneers of the Arabic novel and drama. The triumphs and failures that are represented by the reception of his enormous output of plays are emblematic of the issues that have confronted the Egyptian drama...