Betty Shamieh at The Classical Theatre of Harlem
Playwright
Betty Shamieh is an Arab American writer and the Mellon Foundation Playwright in Residence at the Classical Theatre of Harlem. Her play MALVOLIO, an irreverent comedy and sequel to TWELFTH NIGHT, was a New York Times Critics Pick and premiered as part of the Classical Theatre of Harlem’s Uptown Shakespeare in the Park series at the Richard Rodgers Amphitheatre (July 2023). Her other productions include THE BLACK EYED (New York Theatre Workshop), FIT FOR A QUEEN (Classical Theatre of Harlem), THE MACHINE (Naked Angels), THE STRANGEST (The Semitic Root), TERRITORIES (Magic Theatre & the EU Capital of Culture Festival), and ROAR (The New Group). Shamieh wrote and co-starred in her play of monologues, CHOCOLATE IN HEAT, in two extended off-off-Broadway runs and over twenty university theatres. A graduate of Harvard College and the Yale School of Drama, Shamieh was named a UNESCO Young Artist for Intercultural Dialogue and Radcliffe Playwriting Fellow. She was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for Drama in 2016. Recently, she received an Advancing Culture Change grant from Noor Theatre with support from Pop Culture Collab to adapt ROAR into a tv pilot and was a Denning Visiting Artist at Stanford. Her works have been translated into seven languages. Shamieh’s debut novel NOT PROMISING ANYTHING will be published by Avid Reader Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, in 2025. Follow her on Facebook, Tiktok, Twitter or Instagram @bettyshamieh. www.bettyshamieh.com
Theatre
Mission:
To nurture a Harlem-based professional theatre company dedicated to reimagining the classics and developing new works.
To create comprehensive access for theatre artists, audiences and administrators from diverse backgrounds.
To reflect a diversity of ideas, invite transformative conversation, and inspire social change.
To create employment, economic and educational opportunities in Harlem and beyond.
