Nadine Malouf to Lead U.S. Premiere of OH MY SWEET LAND Across the Boroughs

The Play Company (PlayCo), led by Founding Producer Kate Loewald and Managing Director Robert Bradshaw announce the U.S. premiere of Amir Nizar Zuabi's Oh My Sweet Land (September/October), an intimate solo play that will be staged in private homes and community spaces throughout the five boroughs.

Oh My Sweet Land recounts one woman's journey to Lebanon, Jordan, and finally Syria, and the chilling events reported by the people she meets along the way. Developed through a series of interviews conducted by Palestinian playwright and director Zuabi and co-conceiver German-Syrian actor Corinne Jaber, who originated the principal role, the New York production of Oh My Sweet Land stars Nadine Malouf.

Kate Loewald, Founding Producer of The Play Company (PlayCo) said, "This play was created when Amir and Corinne traveled to Syrian refugee camps in Amman, Jordan. In his forward to the published script, Amir writes 'We met people in the harshest moments of their life, yet still they were generous, full of grace, hope and even humour. This piece is inspired by their stories but more than anything it is inspired by their spirit - that elastic rubber- like ability humans have to adapt and to weather the storm.' In this new production for New York we want to bring these stories close to people, to gather together for a theatrical experience that will lift what's happening in Syria out of the news cycle, into a simple human interaction that allows us to hear and feel in a different way."

Step into the kitchen. Our host is preparing kubah, a traditional Syrian dish. While she cooks, she tells us the story of meeting Ashraf, a Syrian exile, and falling in love with him as he desperately tries to help those he left behind to escape the war. When he vanishes, she impulsively trails him to the homeland she has never known, now consumed by war. She returns with the stories of the people she encountered along the way, to share what she has witnessed of both the brutality, and the grace, of humanity.

Oh My Sweet Land is written and will be directed by Amir Nizar Zuabi, a Palestinian theatre director, playwright and actor. In 2009, Zuabi became one of five co-founders of the independent theatre company ShiberHur (A Bit of Freedom) in the city of Haifa in Israel. His productions there included I Am Yusuf and This Is My Brother, and Three Days of Mourning.

PlayCo has a unique commitment to premiering work from around the world to advance a dynamic, international experience of contemporary theater in New York. Oh My Sweet Land, which marks Zuabi's N.Y. debut,is an immersive solo performance experience that will be staged in private homes throughout the 5 boros before audiences of approximately 10 guests per night. During the run, performances will also be presented for larger audiences at community spaces around the city.

Oh My Sweet Land will be performed by Nadine Malouf. The creative team for Oh My Sweet Land includes Mariana Sanchez (Set Design), Nicole Pearce (Lighting Design) Mark van Hare (Sound Design).

Performances of Oh My Sweet Land will take place in September/October 2017. Tickets will start at $15. For more information, visit playco.org or call 212.398.2977. Complete performance schedule will be announced mid-July.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Amir Nizar Zuabi is an award-winning theater writer & director, the artistic director of ShiberHur theater company, an associate director of Young Vic London, and an associate partner of the United Theaters Europe.

Writing and directing credits include I am Yusuf and This is my Brother, In the Penal Colony, Alive From Palestine, Oh My Sweet Land, The Beloved, (co-produced by ShiberHur/Young Vic) Three Days of Mourning, West of Us the Sea, Dry Mud, Against A Hard Surface (ShiberHur). Directing credits include: Samson and Delilah (Flanders Opera, Antwerp) Jidarriya by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish (Edinburgh International Festival, Bouffes du Nord, and world tour), Mid Spring Musical The Comedy of Errors (Royal Shakespeare Company as part of World Shakespeare Festival). Currently Zuabi is writing a play for the National Theatre London.

Zuabi met Corinne Jaber through David Lan, artistic director of The Young Vic (where the play was produced in 2014). After Lan heard Jaber's plans for Oh My Sweet Land, he brought the two together in order for them to collaborate on giving form to the piece. Drawing on many conversations the two had with Syrian refugees, Zuabi wrote the monologue for Jaber and directed the production.

Nadine Malouf most recently played the lead role of Laila, in the world premiere adaptation of Khalid Hosseini's best-selling novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, at American Conservatory Theatre, that then went on to Theatre Calgary, in Canada. She also played the title role, in the World Premier of Salomé, written and directed by Yaël Farber, at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in DC [winner of 7 Helen Hays Awards in 2016]. Off-Broadway Malouf most recently appeared in the World Premier of Ultimate Beauty Bible [Page73], This is How it Ends [59E59 Theaters], The School for Scandal [Redbull Theatre], The Who & The What [Lincoln Center-LCT3], Exile [Cherry Lane]. Malouf was also a part of the Les Misérables 25thAnniversary National Tour. Other theatre includes Scorched [Syracuse Stage], and Macbeth [GBS Theatre, RADA]. Malouf has developed new work at Sundance Theatre Lab, The Public, Lincoln Center, New York Theatre Workshop, and most recently with Simon McBurney. In television Malouf can be seen on Mysteries of Laura, and Odd Mom Out. In film Malouf recently played the lead role in the short film Resolutions, which premiered this year at the LA Indie Film Festival; other films include May in the Summer, Shame, and Static Shock. Malouf received her training at Syracuse University, and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts

Mariana Sanchez (Set Design) is a New York-based scenic designer, originally from Mexico, with a background in architecture. Her set design credits include: Fade (Primary Stages), The River Bride (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Troy (The Public Theater), Frontieres Sans Frontieres (The Bushwick Starr), War (Yale Repertory Theater), Chained Woman (The New School for Drama) among others. MFA: Yale School of Drama where she received The Donald and Zorca Oenslager Fellowship Award in Design and the FONCA Artistic Residency Award. www.marianasanchezdesign.com

Nicole Pearce (Lighting Design) previously with The Play Company: Sakharam Binder, Edgewise, & The Golden Dragon. Selected credits include work with directors: Edward Albee, Leigh Silverman, Trip Cullman, Pam MacKinnon, Maria Mileaf, Jade King Carroll, & Ed Sylvanus Iskandar with companies including The Cherry Lane, Labryinth Theater Company, Long Wharf, Hartford Stage, Philadelphia Theater Company, & Williamstown Theater Festival. Selected work in dance with Mark Morris, Jessica Lang, Aszure Barton, Robert Battle, Andrea Miller, John Heginbotham, Brian Brooks, Alexander Ekman, Kyle Abraham, & Annabelle Lopez-Ochoa, and companies including: American Ballet Theater, Joffrey Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, Houston Ballet, Boston Ballet, Finnish National Opera, Hubbard Street, Gallim, Mark Morris Dance Group, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, & Nederlands Dance Theater. www.nicolepearcedesign.com

Mark van Hare (Sound) is a composer and sound designer working in New York City. Recent credits include 3/FIFTHS at 3LD Art & Technology, Villa with The Play Company at The Wild Project, Destiny of Desire at The Garden Theatre (Winter Garden, FL), On The Grounds of Belonging (Music Associate) at The Public Theater, One Flea Spare at The Sheen Center, Paris! and Nutcracker Rouge! with COMPANY XIV at Irondale Theatre, Twelfth Night at the School of Drama at The New School, Anna Christie at The Wild Project, DIRECTORFEST with The Drama League at The Barrow Group Theatre, The Wild Party with The Dramatic Association at Yale University, Lost Boy Found in Whole Foods at Portland Stage (Portland, ME), This Time at The Sheen Center, Couriers and Contrabands at The Barrow Group Theatre, In Fields Where They Lay at the New Ohio Theatre, and Look Upon Our Lowliness at Harlem School for the Arts Theatre. markvanhare.com

Caparelliotis Casting (Casting). Also for Play Company: Caught. Current Broadway: A Doll's House, Part 2, The Little Foxes and The Glass Menagerie. Recent and Select B'way/Off B'way: Jitney, The Front Page, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Blackbird, The Father, An Act of God, Fish in the Dark, Airline Highway, It's Only a Play, Disgraced, Sex with Strangers, Lost Lake, The Country House, Casa Valentina, Holler if Ya Hear Me, The Trip to Bountiful, Fences. Also: MTC, Signature, Atlantic, LCT3, Ars Nova, Old Globe, Goodman, Steppenwolf, McCarter and others. Film/television: "American Odyssey" (NBC), "How to Get Away With Murder" pilot (ABC), "Ironside" pilot (NBC), "Steel Magnolias" (Sony for Lifetime).

The Play Company is an OBIE Award-winning Off Broadway theater Production Company. Since launching in 1999, PlayCo has produced 32 new plays from the United States, Germany, Romania, Poland, Sweden, Japan, India, Russia, Chile, Mexico, France, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and England. PlayCo develops and produces adventurous new plays from the U.S. and around the world, advancing a dynamic global experience of contemporary theater and expanding the American theater repertoire.

As the only New York company regularly producing outstanding contemporary plays from around the world alongside new American work, PlayCo's distinctive international programming links American theatre with world theater, American artists with the global creative community, and American audiences with a whole world of plays.

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