Pakistani-American Playwright Bina Sharif's DREAM Debuts In December

Award-winning Pakistani American playwright, actress and director Bina Sharif is back at Theater for the New City with a new work about immigrants, politics and theater.

Sharif's "Dream Within a Dream," her 34th play, runs Dec. 13-30, Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m. and Sun. at 3 p.m. at Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave., NY, NY, 10003.

Selear Duke, Kevin Martin, Manuel Salazar and Sharif star in this Actors Equity approved showcase with lighting designed by Alex Bartenieff. Sharif and Martin are member of Actors Equity Association.

Tickets are available for $18 by clicking the Tix. link or by dialing the theater at 212-254-1109.

The play balances the personal and political, creating characters and a plot that come to life.

"There is a play within a play where immigrants who usually work as busboys, cleaning ladies and nannies wish to be in show business as actors, dancers, and writers," Sharif said of the show. "They are trying to put on a play with great difficulties."

In this play, that includes a play within the play, the performers come face-to-face with an irascible critic who has his own agenda.

"A Broadway critic shows up and trashes this abstraction of a play," Sharif said. "He is bored by watching this play and dozes off and has his own dream. He is dreaming that President Trump has been impeached. There is a victory party going on, and people are dancing all over the place. He invites the actors to the party for champagne."

Sharif's play mixes heartfelt characters with larger issues, ting in with the times and looking at life through the lens of her own life and eperiences.

Her plays have been performed around the world, ranging from her native country of Pakistan to New York and many other nations.

"My Ancestor's House," published by Ruttledge Press, has been performed numerous times and is taught in many college theater courses.

Her play "Another Journey Home/Eight Dialogues in a Mirror Cracked" was produced in New York and Pakistan.

And Sharif's one-woman show "Afghan Woman" has been presented in New York City, Pakistan, the United Kingdom, Hawaii and Belgium and translated into Arabic.

She performed "Afghan Woman" and excerpts from other plays at universities such as Princeton, Wellesley, the University of Pennsylvania, Ohio State and others.

Sharif won 10 awards from the Jerome Foundation as well as grants from the New York State Council on the Arts and Franklin Furnace.

She has worked with Vanessa Redgrave, Fernando Arrabal, Lee Breuer, Robert Patrick, Charles Busch, Crystal Field, Maria Irene Fornes and others.

She also has been a theater critic for more than 20 years, co-hosting Hi Drama, is the editor and publisher for the blog ArtsInternational and maintains a website with her writing titled Stream of Consciousness of Singing Birds.

Dream Within a Dream written and directed by Bina Sharif. A satirical comedy about theater and the art of putting on a play. Dec. 13-30, Thurs.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun at 3 p.m. Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave., New York, NY 10003. Tickets are available by clicking the Tix. link or calling 212-254-1109.

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