New Threads Staged Reading Series 2024

Hanna Eady

Hanna Eady is a Palestinian American theater artist. He founded the first theater at his native village in Buqayah (Peqiin), where he wrote his first play Art and Politics (1976). Founder of New Image Theater in Seattle, Washington, writing and directing world premiers among them: Abraham’s Land, and Bosnia-Moya; Seeing Double by the San Francisco Mime Troupe; Two Rooms by Lee Blessing. In 1993 he returned home to create a docudrama about the internal Palestinian refugees in Israel and co-created Sahmatah, Memory of Stones with Edward Mast. He played the role of Ibrahim in the US production of The Admission by Motti Lerner, and in the Hebrew production at Yafa, Al-Saraya Theater. The Return (Hebrew title Oved Shabbat), co-written with Edward Mast, received its US premier at Mosaic Theater in Washington DC, and most recently produced at Dunya Theatre, Seattle. Writing and directing credits for Alhaneen Theater in Nazareth include: the black comedy Love Tunnel, Hajjar El-Arab (Hajjar, Bishop of all Arabs). In 2019 he founded Dunya Productions, premiering Flood with Jenna Eady, Letters From Palestine in the Time of Covid, and Loved Ones, Families of Incarcerated with Edward Mast. His up-coming world premier Almond Blossom at Deir Yassin is scheduled to open in 2025 at Dunya Productions in Seattle. Mr. Eady has an MFA from the University of Washington School of Drama in Directing, a BFA in Theater from the University of Wisconsin, and a BA in Social Work and Psychology from the University of Haifa.

Edward Mast

Edward Mast’s plays and solo performances have been seen in Seattle, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Kansas City, Honolulu, Oxford, Tashkent, Jerusalem, and other cities.  Recent productions include Shearwater River, Tent City Planet, Letters From the Future, Tales From Under the Asphalt, and Cry Fury.  Plays co-written and produced with Hanna Eady include Sahmatah: Memory of Stones, The Return, The Love Tunnel and upcoming The Mulberry Tree. He has received commissions, awards, grants and fellowships from Seattle Arts Commission, Artist Trust, Seattle Childrens Theater, American Alliance for Theater and Education, CalArts Center for New Theater, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Raeda Taha

Raeda Taha is a Palestinian actor, storyteller, writer, and political activist. She authored and performed several one-woman plays inspired by her life story and her experience as a Palestinian in the diaspora. Most notably, her play Where Can I Find Someone Like You, Ali? directed by Lina Abyad received international acclaim and was performed in over 20 countries. The play is featured in Brill’s Critical Anthology on Modern and Contemporary Political Theater from the Levant, edited by Robert Myers and Nada Saab. Her other one-woman plays include 36 Abbas Street/Haifa 2017, The Fig Tree, and The Gazelle of Akka. As an actor, Raeda has played significant roles in plays across the Arab World, including Returning to Haifa (2011) by Ghassan Kanafani, 80 Degree (2012) directed by Alia Al-Khaldi, Petra Rocks (2013-2014) directed by Lina Abyad, and Ghalia’s Miles (2017) by Zoukak Theatre Company. Raeda holds a BA in Media and Journalism from George Mason University. Her notable career includes serving as a media attaché for President Yasser Arafat (1987-1994) and later chairing the administrative committee at the Khalil al-Sakakini Cultural Center in Ramallah (2000-2008). Since 2010, Raeda has been a member of the Ghassan Kanafani Foundation in Beirut.

Hala Baki

Hala Baki (she/her) is a theater director, dramaturg, dialect coach, scholar, and educator who specializes in Arab, Middle Eastern and North African American theater. Her recent credits include Yussef El Guindi’s Wife of Headless Man Investigates Her Own Disappearance (2023), Mona Mansour’s unseen (OSF 2022), the devised ensemble play Writer’s Block (2021), and Kareem Fahmy’s American Fast (LaunchPad 2021). Hala holds a PhD in Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies from UC Santa Barbara and serves as a faculty member of the Theatre and Dance Department at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. She has published her work in Modern Drama, Theatre Journal, Theatre Topics, Asian Theatre Journal and the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History, as well as co-edited The Vagrant Trilogy: Three Plays by Mona Mansour (Methuen Drama 2022). Together, her research, publications, and artistic work advance the representation of marginalized and misrepresented MENA communities in American theater.

Maya Nazzal

Maya Nazzal is a Palestinian-American actor, writer, and visual artist in the Bay Area and a current voice on the community council for Golden Thread’s “Season For Palestine”. Maya received a BA in Theatre Arts from San Francisco State University and trained at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York. Her acting credits include the recent role of Baran in New Conservatory Theatre Center’s world premiere of The Tutor, Maryam in Noura at Marin Theatre Company, and Vice Arabia’s short film selection, Asya. She’s worked closely with Golden Thread Productions throughout the years, most prominently as a stage manager and performer in Fairytale Players. Maya has participated as a writer and associate producer for CNN’s docu-series Jersualem, navigating the cultural sensitivity of the project from a Palestinian lens. In 2022, her original work was selected by the Red Sea Film Festival and Middle Eastern Media Initiative for writing development in Saudi Arabia. Outside of the performance arts, Maya has become a self-taught artist, starting with hand painted denim to ceilings and four-wall murals. With a focus on Middle-Eastern inspired creation, her art brings a warm feeling of familiarity to the bay for those who are home away from home.

Elissa Beth Stebbins

Elissa Beth Stebbins (she/they) is a Bay Area based actor, teaching artist, and theatre maker. Recent regional credits include Mrs. Christie and Nan and the Lower Body (TheatreWorks), Colonialism is Terrible, but Pho is Delicious (Aurora Theatre Company), Becky Nurse of Salem (Berkeley Rep), Kings, Kiss, The Village Bike, and Caught (Shotgun Players), In Braunau (San Francisco Playhouse Sandbox Series), Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. and You For Me For You (Crowded Fire Theatre), The Little Prince (Marin Theater Company), and Minneola Twins (Cutting Ball), among others. Elissa is also a Teaching Artist, and a co-founder of Analog Theatre, where they produce and devise physical theatre. Elissa graduated from Santa Clara University, and has continued training with Shakespeare and Company, and Atelier Mask Movement Theatre in Italy.

Wiley Naman Strasser

Wiley Naman Strasser is an actor, dancer, singer and musician. Previous work with Golden Thread include productions of Drowning in Cairo and Urge For Going. Other recent credits include national tours of The Kite Runner and A Christmas Carol, Crave with Stairwell Theatre, We Build Houses Here with Detour Productions, and workshops with The Civilians, Boise Contemporary Theatre, and the Ashland New Plays Festival. Up next: As You Like It at CalShakes. wileynamanstrasser.com

Lucia Moratinos-Chu

Lucia Moratinos-Chu is a political science student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo University. She has a background in dancing, singing, acting, and musical theater. In Spain, she sang and acted alongside the “Coro Infantil de Elena Peinado” in the operas Carmen and I Pagliacci. She attended the Oakland School for the Arts for two years, where she cultivated her skills in singing. And throughout high school, she was part of the Destiny Arts Youth Performance Company. Although she has extensive experience performing and being on stage, this is her first time assistant directing a play, and thus is beyond excited about this opportunity!

Atusa Assadi

Atusa Assadi is an Iranian American film student, writer, and activist from the Bay Area. She is thrilled to be stage managing this year’s New Threads Staged Reading Series. Atusa is dedicated to the fight for Palestinian Liberation and is honored to be included in the storytelling of this year’s Season for Palestine. Her last New Threads experience was as a performer in 2017 in Betty Shamieh’s play As Soon As Impossible. Recently she’s worked on The Tutor at NCTC in collaboration with Golden Thread, Rent at Berkeley Playhouse, ReOrient Festival of Short Plays 2023 at Golden Thread, and on the San Francisco Mime Troupe’s Summer ‘24, ‘23 and ‘22 touring productions.