Golden Thread’s ReOrient Festival Turns 20!

Golden Thread Productions, the first American theatre company devoted to the Middle East, will celebrate the 20th anniversary of its prestigious ReOrient 2019 Festival of Short Plays with seven fully produced short plays, two panel discussions, and a national convening of Middle Eastern theatre artists. The festival runs October 18-November 17, 2019 at Potrero Stage. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit https://goldenthread.org/productions/reorient-2019/.

The 2019 line-up includes playwrights with longtime association with Golden Thread: Egyptian-American playwright Yussef El Guindi (Brass Knuckles), Bay Area-based Palestinian-American playwright Betty Shamieh (An Echo of Laughter), and MacArthur Fellow and celebrated playwright Naomi Wallace (The Book of Mima). Joining these writers are four newcomers to the festival: Iraqi-British writer and

actor Rendah Heywood (The Grievance Club), Noor Theatre Founding Artistic Director Lameece Issaq (Noor and Hadi Go to Hogwarts), Turkish-Kurdish writer and filmmaker Mustafa Kaymak (The

Basement), and local Iranian-American writer Niku Sharei (In Spenglic). Selected from 108 submissions from 13 countries, the seven short plays are diverse in content and style, highlighting the multiplicity of Middle Eastern perspectives and identities. The ReOrient 2019 Festival of Short Plays will present the seven plays as an evening of theatre on October 18–November 17, 2019 at Potrero Stage in San Francisco. Run time is 2 hours, including intermission. For more information, please visit goldenthread.org.

On Sundays October 27 and November 3, ReOrient Forum will offer a panel discussion preceding the performance, featuring leading scholars and practitioners. These panels are free and open to the public. On November 9 and 10, Golden Thread will host a gathering of artists engaged in building a national coalition of Middle Eastern, North African, and Muslim (MENA) artists. Building on years of community organizing, Golden Thread’s partnership with Silk Road Rising (Chicago) and The Lark (New York), and new alliances with Art2Action (Tampa), Noor Theater (New York), and Boom Arts (Portland), artists from across the U.S. will show up to network and strategize on how to increase MENA theatre community’s visibility, amplify our voices, and deepen the impact of our work. Some sessions will be open to the public. For more information, please visit goldenthread.org.

“I can’t believe it’s been Twenty years!” muses Founding Artistic Director Torange Yeghiazarian, “But instead of a huge production, this year’s festival is elegantly sparse – four of the plays are monologues. The content however is richer than ever, commenting on the state of the world in profoundly surprising ways. The settings of the plays are also very varied including, Yemen, Syria, Turkey, and Spanglia, an imaginary country set in the future. With all this diversity and rich content, ReOrient is the perfect setting for the MENA artists’ convening, and a great inspiration for conversation around representation and coalition-building.”

Building on the success of ReOrient 2017, Golden Thread will once again collaborate with the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA). The partnership brings together two organizations that value challenging cultural preconceptions through provocative programming and dialogue. Curated by LMDA’s Regional VP Metro Bay Area and Festival Lead Dramaturg Nakissa Etemad, LMDA is providing a team of Dramaturgs to aid the playwrights in script development, provide contextual information, and write feature articles that peek behind-the-scenes of ReOrient. In addition to Golden Thread resident artist Nakissa Etemad, this year’s Dramaturgy Team includes Emily DeDakis, Laura Espino, Scott Horstein, and Michael Malek Najjar.

ReOrient 2019 ensemble cast is made up of Sofia Ahmad*, Atosa Babaoff*, Ali-Moosa Mirza, Lawrence Radecker*, and Amitis Rossoukh. The creative team includes directors, Michael French, Rebecca Novick, Lisa Marie Rollins, and Torange Yeghiazarian; and designers, Kate Boyd (Scenic), Dylan Feldman (Lighting), James Ard (Sound), Brooke Jennings (Costumes), Grisel Torres (Properties), many of whom are Golden Thread resident artists. * Member, Actors’ Equity Association.

The selection committee for ReOrient 2019 included Nora el Samahy (Actor), Rebecca Novick

(Director), Handan Ozbilgin (Associate Artistic Director, LaGuardia Performing Arts Center),

and Roberto Gutierrez Varea (Professor, University of San Francisco, Performing Arts and Social Justice Program). Golden Thread Founding Artistic Director Torange Yeghiazarian, Director of New Plays Evren Odcikin, and Literary Associate Hala Baki were also part of the committee.

ReOrient Festival of Short Plays was inaugurated in 1999 to present alternative perspectives of the Middle East and to showcase the multiplicity of stories, voices, and styles from the region and has since become Golden Thread’s most recognized and celebrated program. This ambitious festival, now presented biennially, turns San Francisco into a mecca for innovative, spirited, and thought-provoking theatre from and about the Middle East. In the last 20 years, it has presented 89 plays by 59 playwrights and translators. ReOrient serves as a showcase for the work of leading Middle Eastern-American writers like Yussef El Guindi, Mona Mansour, and Betty Shamieh, while helping launch careers of emerging talent from Middle Eastern communities. The festival has also introduced Bay Area audiences to significant and rarely-produced dramatic works from the Middle East by authors such as Sadegh Hedayat, Fatma Gallaire, and Tawfiq Al-Hakim. Alongside Middle Eastern voices, ReOrient also features the work of non-Middle Eastern playwrights exploring the region, and has included premieres by such distinguished American playwrights such as Naomi Wallace, Eric Ehn, and Israel Horovitz.

Golden Thread Productions, founded in 1996, is the first American theatre company devoted to the Middle East. We produce passionate and provocative plays from or about the Middle East that celebrate the multiplicity of its perspectives and identities. We are a developmental catalyst and vibrant artistic home to artists at various stages of their career. We bring the Middle East to the American stage, creating treasured cultural experiences for audiences of all ages and backgrounds. For more than twenty years, Golden Thread has been leading the effort to increase the visibility and impact of works by artists of Middle Eastern heritage. Golden Thread is a proud member of Theatre Bay Area (TBA) and Theatre Communications Group (TCG), and a member of TCG’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Cohort 4. goldenthread.org

ReOrient 2019 Festival of Short Plays

October 18–November 17, 2019 at Potrero Stage, San Francisco

Brass Knuckles by Yussef El Guindi

A Muslim woman must give herself a pep talk before leaving the house wearing her weapon. Egyptian- American playwright Yussef El Guindi paints a surprising portrait of the strength it takes to be yourself every day.

The Grievance Club by Rendah Heywood

A successful banker joins a secret society to feed her most unconventional desires. Will the enterprise be more than she bargained for? Iraqi-American actor/playwright Rendah Heywood proposes a vision of female rage in our current times.

Noor and Hadi Go to Hogwarts by Lameece Issaq

Two Syrian children are alone in the rubble of a war zone. Can Harry Potter save them? Noor Theatre Artistic Director Lameece Issaq’s touching new play finds unexpected hope in the darkest of situations.

The Basement by Mustafa Kaymak

In a police station in southeastern Turkey, Kurdish journalist Ayca is interviewing a lieutenant about the disappearance of activists. Very quickly, tables turn and the interviewer becomes the interviewee. This is Turkish-Kurdish writer and filmmaker Mustafa Kaymak’s Golden Thread debut.

An Echo of Laughter by Betty Shamieh

A Palestinian teacher is in trouble for teaching The Diary of Anne Frank to her pupils. You would never believe who’s laughing at her from the shadows. Bay Area-based Palestinian-American writer Betty Shamieh returns for her third ReOrient.

In Spenglic by Niku Sharei

In the not-so-distant future, new immigrant Meetoo must assimilate in her new home nation of Spenglia. What is she willing to give up to hold on to her healthcare? Bay Area’s own Iranian-American writer Niku Sharei’s absurd sci-fi fantasy hits very close to home.

The Book of Mima by Naomi Wallace

The view is exceptionally breathtaking up in the Yemeni sky as a “bird” descends upon Mima reading her storybook. MacArthur Fellow Naomi Wallace returns to ReOrient with this poetic and incisive play.

ReOrient 2019 Honorary Mentions

Hassan Abdulrazzak (The Tune is Always Better on the Outside) Adam Ashraf El-Sayigh (The Bug)

Hannah Khalil (The Yellow Coat) Nabra Nelson (Induced Labor)

William Mohammad Razavi (Wenceslaus Square) Edessa Tailo (Bullseye)

Playwright Bios

Yussef El Guindi’s recent productions include Hostages at Radial Theater Project; 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, and at 59E59 (Portland Drammy for Best Original Script). Bloomsbury will publish Selected Works by Yussef El Guindi in January 2019. He is a 2018 Core Company playwright member at ACT in Seattle and a Resident Artist at Golden Thread Productions.

Rendah Heywood is an actor and a new playwright. In the U.S., she has performed in Refugia at The Guthrie Theater, King Lear at BAM, This Time at The Sheen Center, and in Cuddles for Brits Off- Broadway at 59E59. She has recently participated in workshops for The Atlantic Theater, Noor Theatre, and The Lark. On TV, Rendah has appeared in Doctors, EastEnders, and Holby City for the BBC. The Grievance Club is her first playwriting endeavor, and was selected to be part of last year’s Samuel French OOB Festival of Short Plays in New York City.

Lameece Issaq is an actor and writer, and the Founding Artistic Director of the Obie Award-winning company Noor Theatre, dedicated to the work of theater artists of Middle Eastern descent. Writing credits include Noor & Hadi Go to Hogwarts (Theater Breaking Through Barriers); Nooha’s List (Hartford Stage, The Geffen, and Primary Stages); and Food and Fadwa (Noor Theatre and NYTW co-production, Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award); and the film Abe, co-written with Jacob Kader and starring Stranger Things actor Noah Schnapp (post-production). Acting credits include Food and

Fadwa and The Black Eyed (NYTW); The Fever Chart and Stuff Happens (Public Theater). Lameece is a member of AEA and SAG-AFTRA. 2016 NYFA Finalist in Playwriting/Screenwriting.

Mustafa Kaymak was born in Ankara, Turkey. He is a producer, playwright, and screenwriter who received his B.A. in Journalism from Ankara University, Turkey. He holds two M.F.A. degrees from Columbia University — one in Playwriting and another in Creative Film Producing. His short

movie Green has appeared in San Diego International Film Festival, Vancouver International Film Festival, Galway International Film Festival, and NBC Universal Short Film Festival. Recently, he was awarded a Caucus Foundation Award and an Annenberg Foundation Award.

Betty Shamieh is the author of fifteen plays. Productions include The Strangest (The Semitic Root), Fit For the Queen (Classical Theatre of Harlem), The Machine (Naked Angels) The Black Eyed (NYTW and Magic Theatre), Territories (Magic Theatre), and Roar (The New Group). Her works have been translated into seven languages, and her international productions include Again and Against (Playhouse Theater, Stockholm), The Black Eyed (Fournos Theatre, Athens), and Territories (Landes Theatre, Austria). 2016 Guggenheim Fellowship in Drama and Performance Art; Clifton Visiting Artist at Harvard College; Playwriting Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies; 2011 UNESCO Young Artist for Intercultural Dialogue in 2011. B.A., Harvard College; M.F.A., Yale School of Drama. bettyshamieh.com

Niku Sharei has intermittently interned and worked for Golden Thread since 2011. She is delighted to collaborate with Golden Thread as a playwright. She attended writing classes at College of Marin and Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Niku was the script supervisor for Go On Then, second place winner of 48 Hour Film Project. She wrote and directed In Spenglic and Fury of Teuton for Short+Sweet Festival. She also performed as a stand-up comic in the UAE. Her poem Boxes Into Circles was published in Dubai.