360repco Presents Reading of Newest Work by Tala Manassah and Mona Mansour

360repco's presents its Final Reading of 2016. This is the company's 10th of the year and they are thrilled to have this dynamic and provocative team end on a high note. This piece is a Ensemble Studio Theatre/Sloan commission.

Baghdad, 1975. Invited to teach in a city steeped in the history of great scientific discoveries, hotshot physicist Kamal leaves the Ivy League and finds himself in a surreal landscape colored by revolution, intrigue, deception, and of course, great potential. Caught between the desire to contribute to a burgeoning scientific community and a firm commitment to science as a tool of non-violent liberation, he finds himself entangled between the world as it is, and the world as he wishes it to be.

BIOS:
Tala Jamal Manassah, as a playwright, has co-written, with Mona Mansour, THE HOUSE, commissioned by NYC's Noor Theater and the American Institute for Architecture and read as part of their Building A New series in March 2012; THE LETTER, a short play that premiered in November 2012 in San Francisco as part of Golden Thread's ReOrient Festival; and AFTER, a full-length play that was produced at Queens College in 2013. Manassah and Mansour were awarded a residency at Berkeley Rep's Ground Floor in 2013 to develop a musical play called THE WIFE. Most recently, they were given an Ensemble Studio Theatre/Sloan commission to write a play about 1970s Iraq. Manassah is deputy executive director of Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility, the national leader in school-based social and emotional learning programs. Under her leadership, Morningside Center has undertaken the largest school-based expansion of restorative practices in the U.S. She serves on NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio's Leadership Team on School Climate and Discipline. Manassah earned her A.B. and A.M. at the University of Chicago.

Mona Mansour's play UNSEEN will premiere in 2017 at the Gift Theater in Chicago. THE WAY WEST received its NY premiere at Labyrinth Theater in April 2016, directed by Mimi O'Donnell. Prior to that, the play was at Steppenwolf in Chicago, directed by Amy Morton, and Marin Theatre Company, directed by Hayley Finn. THE HOUR OF FEELING (directed by MarK Wing-Davey) received its world premiere in the Humana Festival at Actors Theatre of Louisville. A new Arabic translation will be presented this winter at NYU Abu Dhabi, as part of its Arab Voices Festival. URGE FOR GOING (directed by Hal Brooks) received a LAB production at The Public Theater, and a West Coast premiere at San Francisco's Golden Thread (directed by Evren Odcikin). THE VAGRANT, the third play in the trilogy, was commissioned by The Public Theater and workshopped at the 2013 Sundance Theater Institute. Mona was a member of The Public Theater's Emerging Writers Group and a Core Writer at Minneapolis' Playwrights' Center. Other plays include ACROSS THE WATER and BROADCAST YOURSELF (part of Headlong Theater's Decade). With Tala Manassah she has written THE HOUSE and THE LETTER (Golden Thread's ReOrient Festival); and FALLING DOWN THE STAIRS, an Ensemble Studio Theatre/Sloan commission. Their short play DRESSING is part of Facing Our Truths: Short Plays about Trayvon, Race and Privilege, a collection of plays commissioned by the New Black Festival was presented at various theaters around the U.S., including the Public, the Goodman, Center Theate@ Group, and Baltimore Center Stage. Commissions include Waterwell, La Jolla Playhouse and Oregon Shakespeare Festival's "American Revolutions.". 2012 Whiting Award. 2014 Middle East America Playwright Award, monamansour.com

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FALLING DOWN THE STAIRS
by Tala Manassah and Mona Mansour
Directed by Thom Fogarty
Cast includes: Dina Shihabi, Rasha Zamamiri, Ramsey Faragallah, Osh Ghanimah and Hadi Tabbal

Monday, December 12th, 2016 @ 7pm

Assembly Hall, Judson Church, 239 Thompson St. NYC