New Threads Reading Series 2018
Golden Thread’s popular staged reading series returns, introducing four vital new plays to the Bay Area. We invite you to laugh, cry, and think alongside these beautiful stories from and about the Middle East! Each play is teeming with unexpected humor, surprising characters, and provocative questions about the world we live in today. Join the creative process of making a new play, and discover brilliant gems never before seen in the Bay Area.
June 1, 2018 - June 30, 2018
Brava Theater Center
2781 24th Street, San Francisco
FREE and open to the public. Reservations are recommended.
Tuesday, June 5, 2018 at 7pm
DROWNING IN CAIRO
by Adam Ashraf Elsayigh
directed by Kal Naga
“What binds us is stronger than sex. It is stronger than love.”
It is May 2001 in Cairo. Moody, Khalid, and their servant Taha are on the Queen Boat, a gay nightclub docked on the Nile. When an unexpected police raid results in the arrest and public humiliation of the attendees, the lives of these young men are altered forever. Recent NYU Abu Dhabi graduate Adam Ashraf Elsayigh weaves budding romances, class differences, and familial expectations into a loving portrait of three men who all struggle to rebuild their lives against all odds.
featuring Amin El Gamal*, Mostafa Elmorsy, Islam Meligi, and Mohamed Rashad; stage management by Benjamin Shiu
Tuesday, June 12, 2018 at 7pm
FOG
by Edessa Tailo
directed by Pirronne Yousefzadeh
“Painting is a job! No, I’m not getting paid.”
San Francisco has become the playground of the young and the ambitious. But can 20-somethings Marc, Yosef, and Ellie continue to pursue their creative dreams while battling the city’s new ruthless startup culture? Bay Area-based Iraqi-Assyrian American playwright Edessa Tailo sets her beautiful new play on the rooftop of an Outer Richmond apartment building with the city’s signature fog as its backdrop.
featuring Shoresh Alaudini, Danya El-Kurd, Grace Ng, Emily Serdahl*, Mohammad Shehata*, and Aaron Wilton*; stage management by Sarah Gasser
Tuesday, June 19, 2018 at 7pm
FIELD, AWAKENING
by Melis Aker
directed by Evren Odcikin
“Have you seen my Mama? Big ol’ she-wolf. You’d know a she-wolf if you saw one, believe you me. Your leader, she was.”
Rana is back in Istanbul after ten years of self-imposed exile from her homeland. Reunited with three old friends on a soccer field, she fast becomes aware of how much has changed and how much has stayed exactly the same. Set on the night of the 2016 Turkish coup attempt, Turkish-American writer Melis Aker’s Field, Awakening is a bittersweet meditation on friendship and nostalgia in the face of political turmoil.
featuring Rotimi Agbabiaka*, Atosa Babaoff*, Aysan Celik*, Garth Petal*, Salim Razawi, and Vaho; stage management by Kenan Arun
Tuesday, June 26, 2018 at 7pm
MIGRAAAANTSSSSSSSS - Or, There’s Too Many People On This Damn Boat \ Or, The Closing-Up Show
by Matéi Vişniec
translated by Nick Awde
adapted and directed by Nima Dehghani
presented in association with Crowded Fire Theater Company
“A fence like this has nothing harmful about it, nothing threatening, nothing ideological. It can be considered as a work of environmental art.”
Commercials tout new security devices like migrant heartbeat detectors. Desperate migrants pay with their organs for passage across the sea. A president works with a consultant to hone his anti-immigrant message. And if the boat is too heavy, how will the audience decide who must be thrown overboard? Adapted and directed by Iranian writer, director, and multimedia artist Nima Dehghani, Migraaaants is an immersive experience that is dark, absurd, and surprisingly funny.
featuring Safinah Chau, Alborz Ghandehari, Douglas B. Giorgis*, Zaya Kolia, Carolina Morones, Matin Nasiriha, Lawrence Radecker*, Mohamed Rashad, Marjan Safa, Kenny Scott, Damien Seperi*, Ayla Yarkut*, and Bella Warda; stage management by Benjamin Shiu