Northern Stage Opens Season With Sylvia Khoury's SELLING KABUL

 Northern Stage is kicking off its 26th season, presenting Sylvia Khoury’s thrilling and heart-wrenching drama Selling Kabul with performances from October 11 to 29, 2023, in the Byrne Theater at the Barrette Center for the Arts.

Selling Kabul, a 2022 Pulitzer Prize finalist, is a gripping thriller that tells an emotional and poetic family love story about sacrifice and strength discovered under extreme circumstances. The play takes place in Kabul, Afghanistan in 2021 where Taroon, a former U.S. military interpreter, is hiding from the Taliban at his sister’s apartment in the wake of the American troop withdrawal. On the eve of his son’s birth, Taroon is faced with an impossible decision to either stay with his family or escape to safety. Selling Kabul is directed by Evren Odcikin, currently the Interim Artistic Director of Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

"Sylvia Khoury masterfully threads humanity, humor, and love into the harsh realities of Selling Kabul, an unflinching play about Afghanistan in 2021, and the impossible choices one family must make to survive through that time,” says Odcikin. “We're working hard to create complexity like Sylvia's words demand, and I'm excited to share this production with the Northern Stage community. In our work, we've found that there is a rich tapestry of Afghan refugees and immigrants in Vermont and the surrounding areas, which highlights that this play is not just about ‘them’ and ‘over there.’ It's about us, and I'm excited to be able to work on it with that lens.”

Award-winning Selling Kabul received its world premiere in 2019 at Williamstown Theatre Festival, directed by Tyne Rafaeli, and its New York Premiere in 2021 at Playwrights Horizons. As much as it is a “first-rate workout for your sympathetic nervous system,” Khoury’s 95-minute thriller also challenges artists and audiences alike to “act beyond [a theater’s narrow walls]” (The New York Times). 

For Selling Kabul, Northern Stage will partner with CommunityCare of Lyme (CCL), a community organization that has launched the “Welcome Fund” to support Afghan evacuees and other newcomers displaced by challenging circumstances in 2021. Northern Stage will also work with CCL’s partner organization SHARe (Supporting and Helping Asylees and Refugees), whose work ensures a well-coordinated approach to newcomer welcome across the Upper Valley.

This cast of four features Hana Chamoun (Hulu and A24’s Emmy-winning Ramy, Netflix Original Jinn) as Ariya; Mattico David (Selling Kabul at Playwrights Horizon Off-Broadway) as Jawid; Nima Rakhshanifar (Andy Warhol in Iran at Barrington Stage Company) as Taroon; and Fatima Wardak (Selling Kabul at Seattle Rep) as Leyla.

Joining Odcikin on the creative team are Sasha Schwartz (Scenic Designer), Dina El-Aziz (Costume Designer), Avi Amon (Sound Designer), Maria Shaplin (Lighting Designer), Colt Luedtke (Production Stage Manager), Rocio Mendez (Fight & Intimacy Director), Humaira Ghilzai (Dramaturg & Cultural Consultant), and Julia Egizio (Assistant Stage Manager).

Northern Stage’s 2023/24 Season continues in November with the newly reimagined Dickens classic A Christmas Carol (November 21 - December 31) adapted and directed by Carol Dunne, Northern Stage’s Producing Artistic Director. More information on Northern Stage's 2023/24 Season and subscriptions can be found at https://northernstage.org/2023-24-season/.

The Northern Stage 2023-24 season is sponsored by Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital, its season underwriter since 2018. Selling Kabul is kindly sponsored by The Norwich Inn, R.C. Brayshaw & Company, LLC, and Vermont Public. 

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