Photo Flash: First Look at Golden Thread's OUR ENEMIES

Golden Thread Productions, the first American theatre company to focus on the Middle East, continues its 20th Anniversary Season with the West Coast premiere of Yussef El Guindi's humorous and hard-hitting Our Enemies: Lively Scenes of Love and Combat, directed by Founding Artistic Director Torange Yeghiazarian. In this juicy denunciation of the mainstream media machine, struggling writer Gamal hates the way his fellow Arab-Americans represent their culture on American media. It's easy enough to take out his frustration on literature superstar Mohsen and local mosque leader, Sheikh Alfani. But when his own girlfriend and novelist Noor gets an offer from a major publisher backed with a national media campaign, how will Gamal manage his frustration? Our Enemies runs October 28-November 20, 2016 at the Thick House (1695 18th Street, San Francisco) and performs Thursdays-Saturdays at 8pm, and Sundays at 3pm. (No performance on Thursday, November 3). Opening night is Monday, October 31, 2016 at 8pm. If you want tickets ($15-$34) or more information on the production, you can visit goldenthread.org.

"It's no coincidence that Yussef is the playwright that we have selected as the centerpiece of our 20th Anniversary Season," says Yeghiazarian. "Yussef, in a lot of ways, represents the voice of Arab American angst. His plays challenge the one-dimensional representations of the Middle East, and he writes beautifully complex and flawed characters that audiences recognize in themselves. It is a real gift to work with Yussef again."

"Golden Thread has provided an artistic home for me over the last two decades. After many years in the culturAl Wilderness, it was lovely to just find a theater that wanted to hear from me," said playwright Yussef El Guindi. "In theater land, to be sought out and encouraged, that is a very strange and odd sensation. There's still very Little Room at the inn for certain voices in mainstream America, so it's nice, and essential, and thank God for one organization that makes its focus the voices of a region that so often goes unnamed in the arts." El Guindi won the Steinberg/American Theater Critics Association's New Play Award in 2012, and was the recipient of the 2010 Middle East America Distinguished Playwright Award. His previous premieres with the company include Language Rooms, Jihad Jones and the Kalashnikov Babes, Back of the Throat, Scenic Routes, and many shorts in ReOrient Festivals. Golden Thread performed El Guindi's Karima's City at the Cairo International Festival for Experimental Theatre in 2004.

This play and these artists represent the best of Golden Thread's legacy, and its vision for the future. Founded in 1996 by playwright and director Torange Yeghiazarian, Golden Thread Productions is the first American theatre company focused on the Middle East. For 20 years, Golden Thread has produced plays and events that represent excellence, defy stereotypes, and celebrate the multiplicity of its perspectives and identities from the Middle East. The company has become an essential hub for artistic activism, supported challenging conversations, and championed representation and inclusion. Over the last two decades, Golden Thread has built a family of artists and audiences to support this important work.

Our Enemies cast and creative team features many members of Golden Thread family, alongside newcomers. The cast features Golden Thread veterans Munaf Alsafi (Urge For Going and ReOrient 2012), James Asher (numerous El Guindi premieres, including Language Rooms), Denmo Ibrahim (ReOrient 2015, and playwright for Ecstasy | a waterfable), alongside newcomers Dale Albright, Kunal Prasad, Annemaria Rajala, Salim Razawi. The creative team for the premiere include Cassie Barnes (lighting designer), Courtney Flores (costume designer), Devon LaBelle (props designer), Kevin August Landesman (projection designer), George Psarras (Sound Designer), and Mikiko Uesugi (scenic designer). The technical team includes Michael Cavanaugh (stage manager), Naseem Etemad (assistant stage manager), Beckett Finn (technical director), Evren Odcikin (producer), and Carla Pantoja (fight choreographer).

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