Urban Stages Reveals Cast and Creative Team For New York Premiere of PEOPLE OF THE BOOK

Urban Stages has announced the cast and creative team for the New York premiere of Yussef El Guindi's play People of the Book, directed by John Langs. The show will begin performance on October 4 and will open on October 10, and will initially run through November 3, 2024 at Urban Stages (259 West 30 Street). 

People of the Book is a gripping drama that delves into the complexities of truth, friendship, and the cost of lies. Jason returns from war to literary glory after writing an international bestseller, but his celebrity is underscored by his marriage to Madeeha, an Iraqi woman he saved. When he reunites with old friends, Amir and Lynn, questions emerge about the veracity of the book and its particular patriotic American gaze. Lust, jealousy, and personal politics bring things between old friends to a boiling point, posing the poignant question, "What is the expense of lies—personally and as a country?"

The cast will feature … Haneen Arafat Murphy (NYC: Lost Sock Laundry), Sarah Mcafee (NYC: The Importance of Being Earnestly LGBTQ+), Brian Slaten (Regional: A Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Film: Ramona at Midlife), and Ramsey Zeitouneh (TV: “American Horror Story.”   Regional: Scorched) 

 The creative team includes Gloria Novi and Glena Vannoi (set & costume design), John Salutz (lighting design), David M. Lawson (sound design), Kim T. Sharp (video design), Leigh Selting (production stage manager) and Caden Cristiano (stage manager). 

People of the Book had a very successful run at Seattle's ACT, where the Seattle Times praised the play: “Tensions simmer from the start. El Guindi writes exquisitely understated dialogue with devils hiding in the corners.” BroadwayWorld Seattle noted, "El Guindi brings surprise after surprise, making this a deliciously complicated show…with a climax I never saw coming, which made it all the more exciting. It is an extremely engaging evening.”

More information about Urban Stages and its upcoming season can be found at can be found at UrbanStages.org.

Biographies

Yussef El Guindi (playwright, People of the Book) 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 immigrants, particularly Arab-Americans and Muslim Americans. El Guindi holds an MFA in playwriting from Carnegie-Mellon University. He is the recipient of many honors, including the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award, the Stranger's Genius Award, and the 2010 Middle East America Distinguished Playwright Award. El Guindi's past productions include Hotter Than Egypt at Marin Theatre Company, ACT in Seattle, and the Denver Center for the Performing Arts (Henry Award winner); People of the Book at ACT; Language Rooms at the Wilma Theatre, Pony World Theatre in Seattle, and Broken Nose Theatre in Chicago; Hostages at Radial Theater Project in Seattle; The Talented Ones at UCSB's LAUNCH PAD and Artists Repertory Theatre in Portland (Santa Barbara Independent Indy Awards); Threesome at Portland Center Stage, ACT, and at 59E59 (winner of a Portland Drammy for Best Original Script); Pilgrims Musa and Sheri in the New World (2011 Gregory Award) at ACT, Center Repertory Company at Walnut Creek, CA, and Mosaic Theater Company (DC). Our Enemies: Lively Scenes of Love and Combat was produced by Silk Road Rising and won the M. Elizabeth Osborn award. His plays Back of the Throat (winner of L.A. Weekly's Excellence in Playwriting Award for 2006), Pilgrims Musa and Sheri in the New World, Jihad Jones and the Kalashnikov Babes, Such a Beautiful Voice is Sayeda, and Karima's City have been published by Dramatists Play Service. Ten Acrobats in an Amazing Leap of Faith, Collaborator, Threesome, The Talented Ones, Hostages, and In A Clear Concise Arabic Tongue have been published by Broadway Play Publishing Inc. Bloomsbury/Methuen Drama published Selected Works.

John Langs (Director) has served as Artistic Director of ACT Contemporary Theatre in Seattle since 2016. He joined ACT in 2013 as Associate Artistic Director. Langs' 16–year freelance career afforded him the opportunity to work with many prestigious theatre companies across the country. He has directed productions at Playwrights Horizons NY, Ensemble Studio Theater NY, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Lookingglass Theater Company in Chicago, Circle X in Los Angeles, The Resident Ensemble, New Century Theatre Company, Washington Ensemble Theatre, and Seattle Shakespeare Company. Langs received his directing degree from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Some of his favorite directing credits include The Shaggs Philosophy of the World (Los Angeles Drama Critic Circle Award for Best Original Musical), and Brothers Karamazov (seven LADCC Awards including Best Production of the year and Best Direction) and directing Kurt Beattie in King Lear. Langs received the first annual Seattle Gregory Award honoring excellence in direction for The Adding Machine. As a dedicated fan of original work, Langs has shepherded over a dozen projects to their premier production. The University of North Carolina School of the Arts named John Langs the next dean of the School of Drama in 2024.

URBAN STAGES is an award-winning, not-for-profit, Off-Broadway Theatre Company founded in 1984 by current Artistic Director . For over 40 years, Urban Stages has produced dozens of world, American, and N.Y. premieres, including Pulitzer Prize Finalist Bulrusher (2007) by Eisa Davis. We have been honored with awards, nominations, and recognition from the Drama Desk, Obie Awards, Audelco, Outer Critics Circle, and more. Plays produced at Urban Stages often move on to larger venues and/or publications. Eleanor and Alice: Conversations Between Two Remarkable Roosevelts by Ellen Abrams, Charmed Life: From Soul Singing to Opera Star by Lori Brown Mirabal (2021), and Bars and Measures by Idris Goodwin (2019) were critically acclaimed. Gratitude by (2022) was recognized as one of the top ten productions of the year by TheaterScene. Death of a Driver (2019) by Will Snider went on to a regional production at The Salt Lake Acting Company. In our 2017/18 season, A Deal by Zhu Yi (world premiered at Urban Stages) toured China, and Dogs of Rwanda by Sean Christopher Lewis (New York premiered at Urban Stages) toured regionally. Other notable productions include the world premiere of the musical Langston in Harlem by (music and book) and Kent Gash (book and direction), which garnered a Drama Desk Nomination, a Joe A. Calloway award, and 4 Audelco awards, including Best Musical Production of 2010. Critically acclaimed hits Mabel Madness by Tony-winner Trezana Beverley (2016), Communion by Daniel MacIvor (2016), and Angry Young Man by Ben Woolf (2017), which transferred to the Theatre at Guild Hall in East Hampton, have premiered at Urban Stages. In addition, Unseamly by (2015) was an N.Y. Times Critics' Pick. Jim Brochu's Character Man (2014) was nominated for a Drama Desk and an Outer Critics Circle award for Best Solo Performance, and Honky (2013) by Greg Kalleres saw a regional run at San Diego Rep and was televised nationally on PBS in late 2015. 1996's Men on the Verge of a Hispanic Breakdown by Guillermo Reyes and Minor Demons by both moved to commercial theatres. Chili Queen, a play by newscaster Jim Lehrer, transferred to the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. (1989). My Occasion of Sin (2012) by Monica Bauer won critical acclaim when it moved to Detroit Rep. Bill Bowers (appearing on our stage once again!) has toured regionally and internationally with his two Urban Stages' premieres blending mime and theatre – Beyond Words (2012) and Under a Montana Moon (2002)! Some Urban Stages premieres have even been developed into film and television projects, such as Scar by Murray Mednick, Conversations with the Goddesses by Agapi Stassinopoulos, and Cotton Mary by Alexandra Viets. In addition to plays and musicals, annually, we hold a music festival - Winter Rhythms - that features famous and up-and-coming cabaret musicians, lyricists, and other music artists. In 2016, Winter Rhythms was honored with the Bistro Award for Outstanding Series, and in 2015, it received the Ruth Kurtzman Benefit Series M.A.C. Award from the Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs.

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