A Country Made of Salt: Staged Reading

Denmo Ibrahim

Denmo Ibrahim (she/her) is an American playwright, actor, and theatre maker of Egyptian descent. Her plays include Arab Spring (Finalist: O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, Princess Grace Award, Rainin Fellowship), BABA (Winner: ‘Best Original Script’, Theatre Bay Area, Winner: ‘Best New Play’, ‘Best Solo Show,’ San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award), A Country Made of Salt (Winner: Legacy Playwrights Award, Harvard University) and Naguib Mahfuz Was Stabbed in the Neck and Almost Died (Finalist: Sundance Theatre Lab). Her work has been produced and developed by Audible, Round House Theatre, Williamston Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, Capital Stage, Noor Theatre, The Civilians R&D Series, Amphibian Stage, Alter Theatre, Shotgun Players, Golden Thread, and Crowded Fire. Regional acting credits include Berkeley Repertory, The Old Globe, Seattle Repertory, American Conservatory Theater, and California Shakespeare Theatre. Her audio-immersive children’s book Zaynab’s Night of Destiny toured 25 public schools in Kentucky and was supported by the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Arts. Denmo holds an MFA in Lecoq-based Actor-Created Physical Theater (Naropa University) and a BFA in Acting (Boston University). denmoibrahim.com and zaynabbooks.com

Nabra Nelson

Nabra Nelson (she/her) is the Artistic Director of Golden Thread Productions. She is a multi-disciplinary theater maker from Nubia, Egypt, and California, with over a decade of experience as a director, administrator, writer, consultant, dramaturg, and teaching artist. She leads the Nubian Foundation for Preserving a Cultural Heritage, is a founding company member of Dunya Productions, a founding company member of Heard Space Arts Collective, Board Member of the MENA Theater Makers Alliance, co-founder of HERitage emBODYment, company member of Dancing Earth, and is the co-host of the Kunafa & Shay Theater Podcast. Awards and recognitions include the New England Foundation for the Arts National Theatre Project, Dramatists Guild Foundation National Playwriting Fellowship, New Arab American Theater Works’ Inaugural Playwriting Cohort, 4Culture Project Grant, Map Fund Artist Award, Wisconsin Veterans Chamber of Commerce Nonprofit Partner of the Year, and Agenda Communicating the Arts 30 Under 30. Her scholarship has been published by Routledge, Bloomsbury, Johns Hopkins University Press, The Gemsbok, and the Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Journal. Her plays have been produced and developed in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Milwaukee, Santa Barbara, Portland, and Minneapolis.

Sarah Al-Kassab

Sarah “stylisms” Al-Kassab (she/they) is a California born, first generation Arab-American, 3rd generation actor and a self-producing Costumer and Performance Artist. In 2007, she left her position as Costume Shop Manager of the San Diego Repertory Theatre to run away with the circus and has never looked back! She has toured with The New Old Time Chautauqua for three seasons, bringing live performance and educational workshops to rural and underserved communities across the western USA. Stylisms costume designed, performed and choreographed for the Stage Left Circus Show at the Oregon Country Fair from 2007-2011 and founded vaudeville performance duo “The New Eccentrics” featuring the World’s Only Pop-Up Book Opera! Writing, Costuming, Producing and Performing with The New Eccentrics, Sarah toured from Hawaii to Brooklyn, NY and settled in the SF Bay Area. Since 2007, Sarah has performed in over 4,000 public, corporate and private children’s shows in the SF Bay Area. She is one of the original ensemble members of Golden Thread Production’s Fairytale Players: and has filled the roles of Player, Stage Manager, Costume Designer and Director in various Fairytale Player touring productions from 2008 to 2024; bringing Multicultural storytelling to Bay Area schools and libraries. She continues to be the trusted costumer for dozens of circus artists that require specialty costumes for their various strenuous talents.

Jacob Henrie-Naffaa

Jacob Henrie-Naffaa (he/him) is an award-nominated actor, writer, director and producer from the East Bay. He began performing professionally at the age of seven and has been seen around Bay Area stages and screens ever since. Recent credits include Dada Teen Musical: The Play (Central Works), the aves (Berkeley Rep), Cabaret (Center Rep) and Returning to Haifa (Golden Thread). His directorial debut short film, My Girlfriend Does That Too!, premieres later this year under his newfound production company, Music Man Studios. He is incredibly excited to be a part of A Country Made of Salt, especially acting alongside his mama, Nicole.

Nicole Naffaa

Nicole Naffaa (she/her) is thrilled to make her debut with Golden Thread Productions. A recent empty-nester, she is finally doing what she always wanted to do when she grew up! Recent credits include Jean in Good People (Altarena Playhouse) which has been nominated for Best Ensemble and Best Entire Production East Bay SFBATCC Awards; Marvalyn/Waitress in Almost, Maine (Backyard Players), which she also co-directed; Natasha Pendleton in Summer of Peace Love and Murder (Plethos Productions); Dalilah Jeckle in Circus Menagerie (Plethos Productions); and Estelle Harte in The Nuptials (Plethos Productions). She performed with The Berkeley Players (improv troupe) for over 10 years and has also done a handful of short films, web series, and commercials. She completed a two-year intensive acting program at Empowerhouse Acting Studio with Melissa Thompson Esaia (Meisner Technique), and has training in sketch comedy and musical theater as well.

Nick Reulbach

Nick Reulbach (they/them) is a multi-hyphenate theater artist based in the Bay Area, and they are delighted to be joining Golden Thread for this production! Previous stage management credits include Co-Founders (American Conservatory Theater); Sally and Tom, Eureka Day (Marin Theatre); and Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus (Oakland Theater Project). They received their bachelors degree in Theater and Performance Studies from UC Berkeley, where they received the Mask and Dagger Award for their contributions as both an actor and a stage manager. They would like to thank their friends, family, and all of the amazing theater educators who inspired them to pursue their dreams and helped them improve their craft.