French Playwright Mohamed Kacimi's HOLY LAND Receives U.S. Premiere at HERE, Now thru 5/10

The U.S. premiere of renowned French playwright Mohamed Kacimi's acclaimed play Holy Land will be presented at HERE in NYC this spring, running from today, April 18-May 10.

What if bombs & gunfire was the daily soundtrack to your life? Welcome, to Holy Land...a raw and evocative tale of two families in a war ravaged city, trying to find humor when all is lost. Holy Land has been presented to critical acclaim in Paris, Vienna, Prague, London, Milan, Jerusalem, Rio de Janeiro, Stockholm and Hamburg. The U.S. premiere production is translated by award-winning NY-based playwright Chantal Bilodeau and will be presented by 3rd Kulture Kids, featuring direction by Tracy Cameron Francis who has directed and developed work with NYTW, Williamstown Theatre Festival, LaMama Umbria (Italy), NY Arab American Comedy Festival, NY International Fringe and Falaki Theatre (Egypt). Based in Paris, Mohamed Kacimi was born in Algeria in a family of theologians; a poet, playwright, novelist, translator, journalist, he is also the president of Écritures du Monde - an organization that puts together international writing residencies.

Can we find humor & poetry in extreme situations? Mohamed Kacimi's compelling and entertaining Holy Land answers this question as five contemporary characters face the devastation of war. A city under siege...the landscape is dusty, devastated. Carmen has disappeared at a checkpoint; her daughter, Imen, must face a soldier's house search alone. In the house next door, Alia, a midwife, prepares her coffee as if nothing else matters while Yad, her husband, gets away from it all by smoking and drinking. The only hope seems to reside in Jesus: the cat. This dark and humorous story follows 5 characters hanging on to the banality of day-to-day life, at times to the point of insanity, as a way to transcend the atrocities of war.

3rd Kulture Kids has assembled a multicultural team to work on this universal play and the cast will feature Obie Award-winner Jojo Gonzalez (White Collar, The Smurfs Movie, The Romance of Magno Rubio), Sean Carvajal, Ana Grosse, Gil Perez-Abraham and Pia Haddad. The creative team includes Charles Coes (Sound Designer), Lisa Renee Jordan (Costume Designer), Sheryl Liu (Set Designer), Miguel Valderrama (Lighting Designer) and Laura Perez (Stage Manager).

This production is an Equity Approved Showcase and is a part of SubletSeries@HERE, HERE's curated rental program, which provides artists with subsidized space and equipment, as well as technical support.

Holy Land will run from April 18-May 10 at HERE (145 Avenue of the Americas) with performances Wed.-Sat. at 7pm. Tickets are $18 and can be purchased online at www.HERE.org.

3rd Kulture Kids is a theatre and film production company based in New York City, producing new/contemporary work created by the lost citizens of the world. 3K² will provide a home and a voice for multicultural artists, spreading its unique perspective on life. Precursors of the 22nd century, 3K² will generate stories that we can all call ours. For more information, visit www.3rdkulturekids.com.

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