Commissions - Stage Plays

As a playwright-focused theatre with a commitment to expanding the corpus of Asian American and Middle Eastern American theatre, we ascribe enormous importance to commissioning new works. In providing playwrights with income, developmental support, and organizational infrastructure, we've helped facilitate the creation of several new plays, and the artistic evolution of emerging, mid-career, and veteran playwrights. We know first-hand how supporting a writer's process within a nurturing environment allows the playwright to take risks, experiment, learn from mistakes, and hone his or her craft. Commissioning, for us, is the ultimate win-win.

Featured
Mosque Alert</em>
Mosque Alert

March 24–May 15, 2016

The World Premiere
Written by Jamil Khoury
Directed by Edward Torres

Inspired by the “Ground Zero Mosque” controversy in New York City, Mosque Alert tells the story of three fictional families living in Naperville, Illinois, whose lives are interrupted by a proposed Islamic Center on the site of a beloved local landmark. Mosque Alert explores the intersections of zoning and Islamophobia with humor, family drama, and refreshingly blunt honesty.

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The Lake Effect</em>
The Lake Effect

April 23–May 26, 2013

The World Premiere
Written by Rajiv Joseph
Directed by Timothy Douglas

In a depressed Cleveland neighborhood amidst a fierce winter storm, an Indian American brother and sister, long estranged, are reunited by the sudden death of their father. Enter their late father’s African American confidante and gambling bookie, and a slew of family secrets get unearthed. The Lake Effect sets in motion a complicated web of relationships and conflicts that challenge our perceptions of race, gender, and success.

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Night Over Erzinga</em>
Night Over Erzinga

October 9–November 11, 2012

The World Premiere
Written by Adriana Sevahn Nichols
Directed by Lisa Portes

Spanning from the Ottoman Empire to New York City, and across three generations of an Armenian and Dominican family, Adriana Sevahn Nichols' Night Over Erzinga explores how a man can lose everything but his heart, and how a grandmother can reach through time, unearth an untold story, and bring her children “home.” From collective tragedy to personal triumph, ancestors reunite with the living in a breathtakingly beautiful journey toward making peace with the past and reclaiming one’s heritage.

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The Mummy and the Revolution</em>
The Mummy and the Revolution

July 13–15, 2012

Written by Yussef El Guindi
Directed by Stuart Carden

It’s Abbott and Costello meet the Arab Spring in Yussef El Guindi’s political farce. An Egyptian revolutionary, an American collector of antiquities, and a reanimated mummy—just three of the characters in this sexy, slapstick romp where ideological opposites attract and the “new” Middle East is never too far from the same old same old.

The DNA Trail: A Genealogy of Short Plays about Ancestry, Identity, and Utter Confusion</em>
The DNA Trail: A Genealogy of Short Plays about Ancestry, Identity, and Utter Confusion

March 2–April 4, 2010

The World Premiere
Presented in Association with Goodman Theatre
Conceived by Jamil Khoury
Featuring Plays by Philip Kan Gotanda, Velina Hasu Houston, David Henry Hwang, Jamil Khoury, Shishir Kurup, Lina Patel, and Elizabeth Wong
Directed by Steve Scott

Theatre meets science when a diverse group of playwrights each agree to take a genealogical DNA test and revisit their assumptions about identity, politics, and the perennial "who am I" question. Self, family, community, and ethnicity are all up for grabs.

Read the Program Book