Golden Thread Hosts New Threads Staged Reading Series

Golden Thread Productions, the first American theatre company devoted to the Middle East, returns with New Threads 2023, its popular and free staged reading series. This year features two new play commissions. Playwright Tariq Hamami and dramaturg Dawn Monique Williams present The Fox and the Panther, exploring the intersection of the Black American and Algerian battles for civil rights and autonomous governance, with support from the National Endowment for the Arts. Playwright Adam Ashraf Elsayigh and dramaturg Salma Zohdi present Alaa, based on the life of Egyptian political prisoner Alaa Abd El-Fattah, with support from the Gerbode Foundation. The New Threads Staged Reading Series will perform on Sundays August 20 & 27 at 7:00 PM at the Brava Studio, 2781 24th St., San Francisco, CA 94110.

Golden Thread's annual staged reading series engages its audience in the process of playmaking and allows writers of Middle Eastern and non-Middle Eastern descent an authentic and supportive space to develop work about the Middle East. This year's program embodies our season theme of Building Forward. The Fox and the Panther was commissioned in 2020 by Founding Artistic Director Torange Yeghiazarian. Alaa was commissioned in 2022 by Executive Artistic Director Sahar Assaf. While both plays have a common theme of political struggle, the two playwrights span a breadth of artistic styles, experimenting with nontraditional storytelling and documentary theatre techniques. In line with the program's mission to support the needs of the writer, and with the support of the Gerbode Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, this year devotes increased rehearsal hours to allow more in-depth script development.

For more than two decades, Golden Thread Productions has been creating space for stories that are rarely told on U.S. stages while centering the stories on those with lived experiences. Executive Artistic Director Sahar Assaf says, “Both projects directly respond to our mission. In a world where freedom of speech is still debatable, and in a country where some have more rights than others, we have a lot to learn from the story of Alaa Abd El-Fattah, as well as the history and experience of the Black Panthers and their struggle for freedom.”

Of Golden Thread, playwright Tariq Hamami states, “They don't “develop” work, they nurture artists. Where other places demand you try, fail, and try again, Golden Thread helps you see you never really failed in the first place. Golden Thread helped me find the way forward. I never would've been able to write this play without the help of Sahar Assaf and Dawn Monique Williams.”

Playwright Adam Ashraf Elsayigh shared, “At a time where our field at large, and institutions centering development, in particular, are threatened by the scarcity of resources, this partnership is incredibly meaningful as an emerging playwright. I am particularly grateful to be collaborating with Golden Thread, an institution with values and a politically specific mission, deeply aligned with my own, a collaboration which wouldn't be possible without the generous and sustained support of the Gerbode Foundation.” Dramaturg Salma Zohdi adds, “With this commission, we hope to do our small part in sharing Alaa's story with a wider audience— a story that is not only specific to Egyptians, or my generation but a story of freedom that should matter to (and inspire) all of us.”

Audiences will have an opportunity to ask questions and engage the playwrights and the creative team in conversation after each reading. Both readings are at 7 pm and FREE. Golden Thread Productions, founded in 1996, is the first American theatre company devoted to the Middle East. Golden Thread produces passionate and provocative plays from or about the Middle East that celebrate the multiplicity of its perspectives and identities. Golden Thread is a developmental catalyst and vibrant artistic home to artists at various stages of their career. Golden Thread brings the Middle East to the American stage, creating treasured cultural experiences for audiences of all ages and backgrounds. goldenthread.org Tickets (FREE) are available at goldenthread.org/tickets.

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