World Premiere
Pilgrimage
by Humaira Ghilzai and Bridgette Dutta Portman
Five women embark on a pilgrimage to Mecca. Noor, an Afghan American immigrant, must fulfill her sister’s last wish. Her daughter, Maryam, a tech CEO, seeks to evade her legal woes, while Noor’s nieces—estranged sisters Sosan and Nadia—must complete the pilgrimage to claim their inheritance. Meanwhile, Fatima, a Black Muslim convert and Nadia’s best friend, hopes to find her biological mother. Will this pilgrimage bring the five women closer, or will secrets, rivalries, and old wounds tear them apart?
Z Space (Steindler Stage)
450 Florida Street, San Francisco, CA 94110
A co-production with Z Space
co-producer
Z Space empowers artistic risk, collaboration, and camaraderie amongst artists, audience, and community in the service of creating, developing, and presenting new work. Operating out of an old can factory in the Mission District of San Francisco, Z Space now activates two venues, an 85-seat intimate theater and a 236-seat flexible performance space, with a warehouse aesthetic and an adventurous edge. Eschewing traditional theater models with fixed seasons and a singular artistic vision, Z Space strives to embrace a multitude of artistic voices through a variety of programs and partnerships.
Keystone initiatives include New Work, a development, production, and presentation program that supports artists and ensembles from conception to realization of unique works; Word for Word, a resident performing arts company that transforms works of literature verbatim to the stage; Youth Arts, an arts education program promoting literacy and creativity; the Curated Rental Program, which opens our venues for use by a variety of artists and arts groups; and the Residency Program which provide an artistic home for artists and organizations in search of growth and community as they develop their artistic voice. Annually, we reach approximately 22,000 audience members, 800 youth and children through Youth Arts, and approximately 50 small and mid-size arts organizations.
Humaira Ghilzai
playwright
Humaira Ghilzai
Humaira Ghilzai is a writer, producer, cultural dramaturg, and dialect coach. She has worked on Broadway, the West End, and with national and regional theaters. Credits include Generative Cultural Advisor and Dialect Coach for Matthew Spangler’s The Kite Runner (World Premiere, UK Tour, Broadway production, and U.S. tour) and Cultural Advisor for Ursula Rani Sarma’s A Thousand Splendid Suns (World Premiere at A.C.T San Francisco and West Coast tour). She also worked on the world premiere of Sheila Silver’s A Thousand Splendid Suns Opera at Seattle Opera. Additional theater credits include Blood and Gifts by Tony-winner J.T. Rogers (La Jolla Playhouse), Gabriel Jason Dean’s Heartland (rolling world premieres and off-Broadway), Sylvia Khoury’s Selling Kabul (Seattle Rep, Northern Stage, Interact Theatre, Signature Theatre), Kevin Artigue’s The Most Dangerous Highway in the World (Golden Thread Productions), and Zealot (South Coast Repertory). Film & TV credits include: Little America, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, Merry Friggin’ Christmas, and Away and Together.\
Humaira is also a speaker and educator, serving as a faculty member for The Immigration Experience in California Through Literature and History at San Jose State University’s 2024/25 National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute. She serves on the Board of Trustees for Golden Thread Productions.
Bridgette Dutta Portman
playwright
Bridgette Dutta Portman
Bridgette Dutta Portman is a playwright, teacher, and novelist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. More than two dozen of her plays have been produced locally, nationally, and internationally. She is president of the Pear Theatre board of directors and a member of the Pear Playwrights’ Guild, the PlayGround writers pool, and the Dramatists’ Guild. She received the 2023 June Anne Baker Prize from PlayGround, and has been a finalist for the Bay Area Playwrights’ Festival, the Theatre Bay Area TITAN award, the PlayPenn Conference, the Kentucky Women’s Theatre Conference Prize for Women Writers, the New Dramatists playwrights’ residency, and more. She holds a PhD in political science (UC Irvine, 2011) and an MFA in creative writing (Spalding University, 2018). She teaches composition and creative writing for UC Berkeley’s College Writing Programs.