Yussef El Guindi's HOSTAGES Opens In Two Weeks

Radial Theater Project and 18th & Union will present the West Coast premiere of Hostages, a play by Seattle-based playwright Yussef El Guindi.

Two college professors have left their homeland for a country that soon devolves into a war zone. They're accustomed to lives of comfort, but it's hard to get comfortable when you're chained to a radiator. Hostages explores how human beings cope when they're deprived of personal contact and torn from the pleasantries of everyday life.

Hostages will be presented at 18th & Union, an arts and community space in Seattle's Central District, October 19 - November 3, 2018. The 3-person cast includes Nik Doner, Sam Hagen, and Yusef Mahmoud. The show will be produced and directed by David Gassner and stage managed by Emma Hagerman.

The creative team includes:

• Lighting design: Angelo Dometri

• Costume design: Julia Evanovich

• Props design: Amy LaZerte

• Sound design: Evan Mosher

Seattle-based playwright Yussef El Guindi's Hostages was originally written in the late 1980's, and was produced in 2010 at the Gene Frankel Theatre in New York, but has never had a local production. This recently revised version is the play's West Coast premiere.

Tickets for Hostages are on sale now at https://18thandunion.org.

Yussef El Guindi's recent productions include The Talented Ones at Artists Repertory Theatre in Portland (Santa Barbara Independent Indy Award); Our Enemies: Lively Scenes of Love and Combat at Golden Thread Productions (American Theatre Critics Association's M. Elizabeth Osborn Award); and Threesome at Portland Center Stage, ACT Theatre, and at 59E59 in New York (Portland Drammy for Best Original Script). Yussef is the recipient of the 2010 Middle East America Distinguished Playwright Award and The Stranger's 2015 Genius Award, and is an ACT Theatre 2018 Core Company member.

David Gassner (producer and director) is Producing Director of both Radial Theater Project and 18th & Union, and was formerly Artistic Director of Theater Schmeater. Favorite local directing projects include HAIR (ArtsWest), We Are Proud to Present... and Or, the Whale (Pony World Theatre), Maria / Stuart and The American Pilot (Theater Schmeater). He most recently performed the role of the Hypnotist in Radial Theater Project's production of Tim Couch's An Oak Tree at 18th & Union and at the Seattle Fringe Festival.

Nik Doner (actor) is a Seattle native actor, producer, and voiceover artist. Recent appearances include Greensward (MAP Theatre), In Arabia We'd All Be Kings (Theater Schmeater), Dirty (Washington Ensemble Theatre), and We Are Proud to Present... (Pony World Theatre). Last year saw the world premiere of two separate runs of his highly praised autobiographical solo show Cuddling with Strippers.

Sam Hagen (actor) has enjoyed working in many great Seattle theaters on many great shows, including The Flick (New Century Theater), Nine Circles (Strawberry Theater Workshop), Cymbeline (Greenstage), and Edmund (Balagan Theater).

Yusef Mahmoud (actor) is a Seattle native who's been seen in Abraham's Land, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Sound Theater), and Peter and the Starcatcher (Cornish College of the Arts.

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