ReOrient 2026 Festival of Short Plays
by Hassan Abdulrazzak, Banafsheh Hassani, Sapehr Jafari, Hannah Khalil, and Ahmed Masoud
Think you know the Middle East? Think again!
Our signature program returns with an innovative and spirited festival of short plays from or about the Middle East. The 30th anniversary lineup is diverse in content and style, with 5 plays selected from 83 submissions, highlighting a multiplicity of Middle Eastern perspectives and identities.
ReOrient 2026 Forum, a convening of artists, academics, activists produced in partnership with MENA Theater Makers Alliance, will take place during the run of the festival in San Francisco.
October 9, 2026 - November 1, 2026
Potrero Stage
1695 18th Street, San Francisco, CA 94107
Written by Hassan Abdulrazzak, Banafsheh Hassani, Sapehr Jafari, Hannah Khalil, and Ahmed Masoud
Directed by Wynne Chan, Nabra Nelson, Salim Razawi, and Torange Yeghiazarian
Detailed schedule for the Festival and the Forum will be announced shortly.
REORIENT FESTIVAL 2026 LINE-UP
Dare Not Speak
by Hassan Abdulrazzak (London-based, Iraq)
A hard-hitting play by artistic affiliate Hassan Abdulrazzah (Love, Apples, and Bombs), Dare Not Speak focuses on a young child, murdered in a genocide, as she pitches her story to a theater artistic director who is reluctant to put it on stage.
Regarding Antigone
by Banafsheh Hassani (Montreal-based, Iran)
A new solo show Inspired by a true story, the classic Greek tragedy of Antigone, war photography, fleeting memories, a revolution, state propaganda, a song she sang, and cringe diaspora poetry where “every line is a call to action.
Homing Pigeons & Co
by Sapehr Jafari (Bay Area-based, Iran)
Two friends develop a weekly ritual of attending the Iranian diaspora protests in San Francisco every weekend, to try to prevent their countrymen from being executed in the Islamic Republic prisons. But their differences become more disastrous with each passing day, and as activism takes a toll on them, it takes everything they got to not murder each other.
Blood Fruit
by Hannah Khalil (London-based, Palestine/Ireland)
Blood Fruit tells the true story of Mary Manning, a young shop worker in 1980s Dublin who refused to handle South African grapefruits and convinced her co-workers to strike to protest the Apartheid regime. Affiliated artist Hannah Khalil (Scenes From 71 Years*) weaves a moving story about the power of protest and the difference individuals can make against systems of oppression.
Camouflage
by Ahmed Masoud (London-based, Gaza, Palestine)
Award-winning writer and director Ahmed Masoud brings to life surprisingly funny and boldly human stories about four young people in Palestine and Israel. Thirteen-year-old Thaer is on a boat in the waters between Turkey and Greece. He is troubled, but not because he might drown any minute. Nibal is finishing her SAT exams in an American style school in Ramallah while well-meaning suitors pester her father with marriage proposals. Gaza taxi driver Zeid uses Tinder obsessively to try to find a date. Sami dreams of becoming a famous actor, but as an Arab actor, is he willing to take on the roles he’s offered to get known by established Israeli directors?
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ReOrient 2026 Honorary Mentions
Golden Thread celebrates these three exceptional plays and writers:
Sanctuary by Alissa Haddad-Chin
In Line of Fire by Motasem Abu Hasan
The Eye of the Needle by Jacob Kader