Golden Thread Productions and Crowded Fire, In Partnership With Art2Action, Present A FESTIVAL OF PALESTINIAN ART

Posted by on March 24, 2026

Golden Thread Productions and Crowded Fire, In Partnership With Art2Action, Present
A FESTIVAL OF PALESTINIAN ART

Uplifting Palestinian voices in comedy, film, and theater, the in-person festival performs April 9-19 at San Francisco’s Potrero Stage.

Featured in the Festival are:

AMREEKA 2026: The Comedy Show curated by Wafaa Bilal, featuring headliner Suzie Afridi, comedians Majdy Fares and Lana Salah, with Charles McBee as MC

Film Screening: The Horse of Jenin written and performed by Alaa Shehada
Staged Reading: A Country Made of Salt by Denmo Ibrahim, directed by Nabra Nelson

Wednesday, March 11, 2026: San Francisco, CA — Golden Thread Productions, the first American theater company devoted to the Middle East, and Crowded Fire Theater Company, San Francisco’s vital home for fierce, new plays, join forces to present A Festival of Palestinian Art on April 9-19, 2026 at Potrero Stage (1695 18th Street, San Francisco, CA). Presented in partnership with Art2Action, this unique festival uplifts Palestinian voices and stories in theater, film, and stand-up comedy, and builds upon Golden Thread’s decades-long commitment to Palestinian art.

Featured projects include a filmed version of Alaa Shehada’s acclaimed solo show The Horse of Jenin and a New Threads developmental reading of A Country Made of Salt by Golden Thread 2026 Playwright-in-Residence Denmo Ibrahim, directed by Golden Thread Artistic Director Nabra Nelson. The in-person Festival culminates in the return of AMREEKA 2026: The Comedy Show, which played to sold out houses in 2023. The comedy show is curated by Wafaa Bilal and features an all-Palestinian line-up: Headliner Suzie Afridi, featured comedians Majdy Fares and Lana Salah, with Charles McBee as MC. Tickets ($20-$100) and Festival Passes are available at goldenthread.org.

Golden Thread Artistic Director Nabra Nelson says: “As the genocide continues in Palestine, it is a radical act of resistance to center Palestinian laughter and joy through this festival. Comedy is a powerful way to bring communities together, to cope with tragic circumstances, and to access some much-needed healing. The dynamism of this festival reflects the diversity of Palestinian art through three very different yet equally exciting offerings.”

Crowded Fire Leader of Artistic Curation & Producing Nailah Unole didanas’ea Harper-Malveaux adds: “Crowded Fire and Golden Thread are more than just neighbors: We share staff, space and deep values alignment. The Festival of Palestinian Art is the latest in our long history of artistic collaboration. It combines both companies’s deep love of new work and overlapping missions to make art that is socially and politically transformative. Limiting Palestinian art solely to narratives of suffering is another tool of erasure and dehumanization. This lineup showcases the multi-faceted nature of resistance by centering Palestinian joy and laughter in the face of genocide.”

“We are always proud to partner with Golden Thread on projects that reflect the urgent issues of our time,” says Art2Action’s Artistic & Executive Director Andrea Assaf. “The range of voices and aesthetics represented in this line-up is truly inspiring.”

Thursdays, April 9 and 16 at 8pm, the Festival presents a filmed version of acclaimed Palestinian writer and performer Alaa Shehada’s The Horse of Jenin — A Troupe Courage Production with the screening produced by 55B Productions / Jenny Tibbels. The original solo show was directed by Katrien van Beurden and Thomas van Ouwerkerk. Hailed by the Guardian: ““A funny, haunting coming-of-age tale of boyhood in occupied Palestine, this is a production that chooses to find joy amid horror.” Built from the debris of a major invasion, the Horse of Jenin sculpture became a constant presence in Alaa’s life growing up in Occupied Palestine. It stood proudly in the center of the city for twenty years, symbolizing hope and resistance. Then, on October 29, 2023, an Israeli bulldozer entered the city, ripping the sculpture from its place — and from its people. Now, Alaa is left wondering… What happened to the horse? This filmed version of Shehada’s brilliant solo show combines storytelling, mask, and stand-up comedy, and stands as an ode to the power of imagination and the resilience it brings.

Performing Friday, April 10 and Saturday, April 11 at 8pm, and Sunday, April 12 at 3pm, the New Threads staged reading of Golden Thread 2026 Playwright-in-Residence Denmo Ibrahim’s newest work, A Country Made of Salt, is directed by Golden Thread’s new Artistic Director Nabra Nelson. In this moving new play, a baker, a mystic, and a falcon walk into an office one stormy night… Rabia Haddad is on a mission to discover a lost history. But as she builds her map, the archive begins to talk back, blurring the lines between testimony, memory and myth. Could it be that the one story she needs most is her own? A play about inheritance, letting go, and the desire to belong to something larger than yourself, A Country Made of Salt invites us to reflect on the stories we keep — and what stories keep us. Denmo Ibrahim is an award-winning American playwright, actor, and theatre maker of Egyptian descent, and has been a longtime Golden Thread affiliated artist. She started her journey with Golden Thread with the ReOrient Festival in 2003 as an actor, and has appeared in numerous productions and readings since then. As a playwright, her play ECSTASY | a waterfable was commissioned and produced by Golden Thread in 2009 and her new play Arab Spring will premiere in a co-production with SFBATCO and Golden Thread in the summer of 2026.

The second weekend brings the return of AMREEKA 2026: The Comedy Show. Curated by Wafaa Bilal and featuring an All-Palestinian line-up, the event performs Friday, April 17 and Saturday, April 18 at 8pm, and Sunday, April 19 at 3pm. Headlining the comedy show is Suzie Afridi. Born and raised in Jericho, West Bank, she immigrated to California at age 14. Former accountant, startup survivor, and Palestinian-American powerhouse, Afridi is a comedian and storyteller with brains, boldness, and big Arab mom energy. Joining her are comedians Majdy Fares and Lana Salah, and MC Charles McBee. This unique show brings together comedians with one thing in common: a deep love of complaining. The toxic culture and politics in “Amreeka,” as some Middle Easterners playfully pronounce it, offer ample fodder for further complaints. This cathartic and witty venting holds a mirror up to reality showing it has become so absurd and surreal, one must laugh, if not cry. Curator and former Golden Thread Artist-in-Residence Wafaa Bilal says: “AMREEKA is an artistic platform for creating dialogue and bringing people together on highly charged topics. Not politicizing laughter but laughing at politics as a form of solidarity and resistance.”

A Festival of Palestinian Art is supported by Art2Action as part of a multi-year partnership with Golden Thread on Protecting Dissent, uplifting and centering voices for Palestine.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Evren Odcikin
evren@goldenthread.org

510.295.7545

PRESS PHOTOS:
A FESTIVAL OF PALESTINIAN ART (2026)