Shamieh's The Black Eyed Begins at NYTW July 17

New York Theatre Workshop has announced that The Black Eyed, written by Betty Shamieh, directed by Sam Gold, will begin performances Tuesday, July 17 at 8:00pm, at New York Theatre Workshop, 79 East 4th Street, between Second Avenue and Bowery. Opening night is scheduled for Tuesday, July 31 at 7:00pm.

The Black Eyed "depicts four Arab women from across the ages - the Biblical Delilah, a modern suicide bomber, a victim of medieval Christian crusaders and a contemporary, secular Arab-American - who meet in the afterlife.  As the women struggle to come to terms with their lives and their choices, this shockingly funny play skewers traditional views on sex, family, and terrorism," as press notes describe the play.

James Nicola, NYTW's artistic director, says, "New York Theatre Workshop has supported the collaboration between playwright Betty Shamieh and director Sam Gold for over two years through several drafts of The Black Eyed. Last summer Betty and Sam participated in our Dartmouth Summer Residency, spending an intense week with us focusing on the play. As soon as the residency ended, I knew we wanted to produce this powerful work and introduce our audience to Betty's lush and original voice."

The cast of The Black Eyed is Aysan Celik as Aiesha, Lameece Issaq as Tamam, Jeanine Serralles as Architect and Emily Swallow (Measure for Pleasure, High Fidelity) as Delilah.

Betty Shamieh is a playwright, author, screenwriter, and actor, and is the author of fifteen plays.  This season, her play Territories will have its world premiere at the Magic Theatre. Shamieh was awarded a playwriting grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and Theatre Communications Group (TCG) to spend 2008 as a playwright-in-residence at the Magic Theatre. Her play Again and Against had a reading as part of the New Work Now festival at The Public Theatre in November 2006 and a reading at The Royal Court Theatre in January 2007. The Black Eyed had its world premiere at the Magic Theatre in 2005 and its Greek premiere at the Theatre Fournos in Athens under the direction of Takis Tzamargias and translated by Athina Paraponiari. In 2007, her one-act play The Machine was produced by Naked Angels and directed by Marisa Tomei.  Shamieh has been awarded a Sundance Theatre Institute residency, New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) Fellowship, New Dramatists Van Lier Fellowship, Ford Foundation grant, Yaddo residency, Arts International Grant, and Rockefeller Foundation residency in Bellagio, Italy. She was selected as the 2004-05 Clifton Visiting Artist at Harvard University and is currently serving on the playwriting advisory board for the New York Foundation for the Arts.   Shamieh is a graduate of Harvard University and the Yale School of Drama. In 2005-06, Shamieh was a Playwriting Fellow at the Harvard/Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies. She is currently working on a commission from Time Warner/Second Stage Theatre and her first novel.

Sam Gold's recent credits include Colin McKenna's The Secret Agenda of Trees (Cherry Lane), Rogelio Martinez's Fizz (The Ohio Theater), Judy Blume's Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing (The Hangar Theater), The US Premiere of Joanna Laurens' The Three Birds (GAle GAtes), and Betty Shamieh's Chocolate in Heat (The Tank). He is a Wooster Group current associate, NYTW Usual Suspect, Drama League Directing Fellow, and a recipient of the Princess Grace Award.

Scenic design for The Black Eyed is by Paul Steinberg; costume design by Gabriel Berry; lighting design by Jane Cox; sound design by Darron L West; and the production stage manager is Rachel Zack.

New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW), now celebrating its 25th season, is a leading voice in the world of Off-Broadway and within the theatre community in New York and around the world. NYTW has emerged as a premiere incubator of important new theatre, honoring its mission to explore perspectives on our collective history and respond to the events and institutions that shape our lives. ]

Tickets are $50 and may be purchased online at www.telecharge.com, 24 hours a day, seven days a week or by phoning www.Telecharge.com at (212) 239-6200.  For exact dates and times of performance, call Telecharge.com.

Maintaining its commitment to making theatre accessible to all theatergoers, NYTW continues its CheapTix program in which all tickets for all Sunday evening performances will cost $20. Tickets may be purchased in advance, payable in cash only, and are available in person only at the NYTW Box Office. And for all performances, student tickets cost $20, based on availability, and can be purchased in advance from the NYTW Box Office with valid student identification. The NYTW Box Office is open 1:00pm to 6:00pm, Tuesday through Saturday.

Photo of Emily Swallow by Linda Lenzi

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