Betty Shamieh News

A fourth unforgettable evening of The 24 Hour Plays: Viral Monologues will stream tonight on IGTV @24hourplays and at https://24hourplays.com/viral-monologues/. 22 actors have been paired with an unrivaled group of theatre writers, who worked through the night to create unique pieces especially for their actors.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announces the company for A Thousand Splendid Suns, adapted for the stage by Ursula Rani Sarma and based on the 2007 New York Times bestselling novel by Khaled Hosseini (Kite Runner). Set in 1992 in war-torn Afghanistan, this gripping story centers around a friendship that develops between two Afghan women following a tragedy. While facing insurmountable odds of a brutal and oppressive way of life, the two form an unlikely bond in a heart-rending fight for survival. Directed by Carey Perloff, A Thousand Splendid Suns runs January 17 - March 1, 2020 in the Kreeger Theater.

Little Fish Theatre has announced its cast for the Los Angeles premiere of Operation Ajax opening October 3. This true story about a 1953 CIA covert operation is written by Matthew Spangler and Farshad Farahat, and is directed by LFT Associate Artistic Director Suzanne Dean. The five-person ensemble plays all 13 real and imagined figures surrounding the plan to overthrow the Prime Minister of Iran a?" Mohammad Mossadegh.

Golden Thread Productions, the first American theatre company devoted to the Middle East will celebrate the 20th anniversary of its prestigious ReOrient 2019 Festival of Short Plays with seven fully produced short plays, two panel discussions, and a national convening of Middle Eastern theatre artists.

The Playwrights Foundation hosts Cocktails with a Playwright, a June 8 benefit from 5 - 7PM a an intimate and interactive event featuring award winning playwrights at the San Francisco Center for the Book. Celebrating new plays and engaging celebrated playwrights, the event will honor alumni playwrights Marcus Gardley, 2019 Obie Award Winner, Kristiana Rae Colon, Lauren Yee,  and the inspirational leadership of outgoing Artistic Director Amy Mueller, who will be passing the torch at the end of the season after nineteen transformational years that have placed Playwrights Foundation and its playwrights squarely on the national scene.

Playhouse Creatures Theatre Company (PCTC) announces a call for new full-length plays. After a very gratifying process last season, the Company will again accept submissions of full-length scripts which will then be adjudicated by a team of company members and accomplished playwrights (last years playwrights included Naomi Wallace, Emily Mann and Betty Shamieh).

Golden Thread Productions, the first American theatre company devoted to the Middle East, presents What Do the Women Say?: Roots & Reflections, its annual celebration of International Women's Day. Rarely do audiences have access to such a rich collection of creative expression by Middle Eastern women, whose portrayal in mainstream media remains one of victimhood and silence. This year's program showcases the work of leading Middle Eastern women artists at the crossroads of tradition and experimentation. With a lineup of acclaimed artists surveying their Middle Eastern cultures, the singular evening celebrates women who reject narrowly-defined stereotypes to take ownership of their creative processes and carve out their own innovative identities.

Golden Thread Productions, the first American theatre company devoted to the Middle East, presents a season of new work highlighting rarely seen perspectives. The 2019 mainstage season begins with the U.S. premiere of Palestinian-Irish playwright Hannah's Khalil's critically acclaimed Scenes from 71* Years (April 5 May 5, 2019). An epic snapshot of Palestinian life since 1948, Scenes is directed by celebrated Arab-American scholar Michael Malek Najjar and features Bay Area Palestinian actors in the nine-member cast.

Golden Thread Productions, the first American theatre company devoted to the Middle East, is proud to announce the seven plays for its prestigious ReOrient 2019 Festival of Short Plays celebrating its 20th anniversary.

The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center, located at The Graduate Center, CUNY, will host the first Academic theatre symposium that focuses on Arab dramaturgy, Towards Arab Dramaturgies, on September 27th and 28th, 2018. This symposium will feature research papers, artist talks and roundtable events. The sessions and papers will be compiled in a publication that will be generated from the discussions at the convening.

The Classical Theatre of Harlem (CTH) is proud to announce the appointment of Carl Cofield as Associate Artistic Director. Cofield comes to the organization with a long history of directing for CTH and regional theaters across America. He is also a theater instructor and is currently on faculty at The New School and New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. CTH welcomes Cofield to further expand the mission and vision of the company.

The Playwrights' Center today announced the recipients of the 2018-19 McKnight National Residency and Commission and 2018-19 McKnight Fellowships in Playwriting.

The Old Globe's 2017-2018 Season continues with today's announcement of the complete cast and creative team for the Southern California debut of A Thousand Splendid Suns, Ursula Rani Sarma's sweeping and deeply moving theatrical production based on the best-selling book by Khaled Hosseini (The Kite Runner).

Golden Thread Productions, the first American theatre company devoted to the Middle East, presents What Do the Women Say?: Dismantling Patriarchy, its annual celebration of International Women's Day. This year's program showcases the work of leading Middle Eastern women artists that are working to expose and eradicate toxic masculinity at home, at work, and on the national stage. The event features a presentation by Yemeni-American visual artist Yasmine Diaz about her collage series, One Way or Another; a dramatic reading by Golden Thread Resident Artist Atosa Melody Babaoff of the short story "White Torture" by Iranian author Farnoosh Moshiri; a performance by Lebanese-American singer Naima Shalhoub featuring music from her debut album Live in San Francisco County Jail; and an excerpt from the documentary film The Judge by Erika Cohn and Sara Maamouri about the Arab world's first woman Sharia judge. After the presentations, Founding Artistic Director Torange Yeghiazarian will facilitate a conversation with the participating artists and the audience. Reem's California will sell food in the lobby starting at 6pm. The full program is 100 minutes without intermission.

Is it enough just to be working on your sh*t ? Lauded playwright MJ Kaufman's skewering play SENSITIVE GUYS, presented by InterAct Theatre Company as the second show of their 30th Anniversary Season, uses the safe spaces of a small liberal arts college, and the passionate yet na ve students who inhabit them, to explore pitfalls that lurk on the path toward undoing institutionalized patriarchal norms. This prescient piece, though developed a few years ago through InterAct's Core Playwrights program, speaks directly to the current cultural moment with humor, biting insight, and hopeful compassion.

Is it enough just to be working on your sh*t ? Lauded playwright MJ Kaufman's skewering play SENSITIVE GUYS, presented by InterAct Theatre Company as the second show of their 30th Anniversary Season, uses the safe spaces of a small liberal arts college, and the passionate yet na ve students who inhabit them, to explore pitfalls that lurk on the path toward undoing institutionalized patriarchal norms. This prescient piece, though developed a few years ago through InterAct's Core Playwrights program, speaks directly to the current cultural moment with humor, biting insight, and hopeful compassion.

Playhouse Creatures Theatre Company will present the New York workshop reading of Leslie Kimbell's Four Old Broads October 28th at 3pm. The performance will take place at the Cherry Lane Studio Theatre located at 38 Commerce Streetin the West Village. The reading is free and open to the public. Reservations can be made by emailing fouroldbroads@gmail.com.

Golden Thread Productions, the first American theatre company devoted to the Middle East, is proud to present its biennial signature program: ReOrient 2017 Festival of Short Playsfeaturing plays and artists from Armenia, Iraq, Iran, Japan, Lebanon, Palestine, Tunisia, Turkey, United Kingdom, and the U.S. all on one stage.

T. Fellowship, in association with Columbia University School of the Arts, announces the next T. Fellow is Allison Bressi, the sixth fellow in the one year program designed to educate and empower new creative producers.

Atlantic for Kids' 2017-2018 Season opens today, September 16, with the family musical Polkadots: The Cool Kids Musical, inspired by Ruby Bridges and the Little Rock Nine featuring music by Greg Borowsky and Douglas Lyons, lyrics and concept by Douglas Lyons, book by Melvin Tunstall III and direction by Tamilla Woodard.