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Middle Eastern, North African, and Southwest Asian (MENASA) Theatre

Content in this section focuses on theatre made by practitioners from the Middle East, North Africa, and Southwest Asia (MENASA), or of MENASA descent. Start with essays like “Erasing the Middle East: White Gatekeeping and the Painful Path of Progress,” “Middle Eastern America and the Theatre of Belonging,” or the report on the National Convening for Artists of Middle Eastern, North African, and Southwest Asian Descent. And don’t miss the video series of artists of Middle Eastern and North African heritage discussing their identity, work, and artistic choices.

The Latest

Theatre in Palestine
Podcast
Theatre in Palestine
by Marina Johnson, Nabra Nelson, Jeries AbuJaber
31 January 2024
Queer Dramaturgies in Turkish Theatre
Podcast
Queer Dramaturgies in Turkish Theatre
by Marina Johnson, Nabra Nelson, Erdem Avşar
24 January 2024
Producing Queer MENA Theatre on the American Stage
Podcast
Producing Queer MENA Theatre on the American Stage
by Marina Johnson, Nabra Nelson, Kareem Fahmy
17 January 2024
A promotional graphic for the Kunafa and Shay podcast.
Theatre in Palestine
Podcast

Theatre in Palestine

31 January 2024

How can theatre make an impact in moments of crisis? During a time of ongoing genocide and brutal occupation in Palestine, this special episode focuses on Palestinian theatre and political action across borders. We discuss The Gaza Monologues and To The Good People of Gaza. Then Palestinian actor, writer, and scenographer Jeries AbuJaber joins us in conversation about what is currently happening in the West Bank and Gaza and his experience as a theatre artist in Palestine.

A promotional graphic for the Kunafa and Shay podcast.
Queer Dramaturgies in Turkish Theatre
Podcast

Queer Dramaturgies in Turkish Theatre

24 January 2024

How can we think of queerness as a form of political intervention? In this episode, we talk with Erdem Avşar about Turkish theatre, queer utopias, and ghosts. We examine queer dramaturgies in Turkish and international theatre, discuss translation into and from Turkish, re-think temporality in playwriting, and question what queer utopias look like onstage.

Promotional Graphic for Kunafa and Shay.
Producing Queer MENA Theatre on the American Stage
Podcast

Producing Queer MENA Theatre on the American Stage

17 January 2024

This season, we have talked about what it means to create characters who break out of boxes and create new queer representations. Once these characters are created, then comes the challenge of having your work produced. In this episode, we talk with Kareem Fahmy who has dealt with the considerations of producibility and what it means to have his work produced on stages in the United States.

Promotional Graphic for Kunafa and Shay.
Femme MENA Representation in Lebanon and the United States
Podcast

Femme MENA Representation in Lebanon and the United States

10 January 2024

This season, we further complicate notions of MENA womanhood by exploring the additional intersection of queerness in femme MENA theatremaking. Two queer Lebanese femme theatremakers based in the United States, Lama El Homaïssi and Sarah Bitar, join us to discuss how intersectional identities show up in their work and life, and the social atmosphere for femme MENA theatre artists in Lebanon and the United States.

A promotional graphic for the Kunafa and Shay podcast.
Affinity Spaces for MENA/SWANA and LGBTQIA+ Artists
Podcast

Affinity Spaces for MENA/SWANA and LGBTQIA+ Artists

13 December 2023

Affinity spaces have been an undercurrent of discussion across the three seasons of Kunafa and Shay. In this live session at the 2023 MENATMA Convening at Golden Thread Productions in San Francisco, in partnership with Mizna+RAWIfest, Marina and Nabra sit down with artists to discuss the nuances of MENA and SWANA affinity spaces and MENATMA, Mizna, and RAWI’s roles in facilitating national cultural affinity among artists of intersectional identities.

Kunafa & Shay teaser image with guest headshots.
Home and Exile in Queer MENA Theatremaking
Podcast

Home and Exile in Queer MENA Theatremaking

6 December 2023

MENA cultures are deeply familial with a strong connection to home, defined geographically and through close family bonds. With fraught political and religious opinions about queerness throughout the region, making queer art can threaten those deep connections. How do queer MENA artists consider those complications when making theatre? How do individuals change culture in the face of possible exile? Multi-hyphenate artists Zeyn Joukhadar and Raphaël Aimé Khouri interrogate these questions.

Calling Up Justice Presents The Gaza Monologues Event Poster.
Calling Up Justice Presents The Gaza Monologues
Video

Calling Up Justice Presents The Gaza Monologues

Calling Up Justice is producing an accessible and disability justice informed digital production of The Gaza Monologues from Ashtar Theatre Palestine.

Wednesday 29 November 2023
United States

Calling Up Justice said yes to the invitation of global engagement from Ashtar Theater Palestine in response to the current crisis. This event is an accessible and disability justice informed digital production of The Gaza Monologues. 

Theatre of the Oppressed NYC's The Gaza Monologues Event Poster.
The Gaza Monologues Presented by Theatre of the Oppressed NYC
Video

The Gaza Monologues Presented by Theatre of the Oppressed NYC

A response to ASHTAR Theatre's urgent request to publicly read or perform The Gaza Monologues on The International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

Wednesday 29 November 2023
United States

This event was Theatre of the Oppressed NYC's response to ASHTAR Theatre's urgent request to publicly read or perform The Gaza Monologues—testimonies written by ASHTAR youth in 2010, highlighting the fears, hopes, and resilience of Gazans—on The International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. 

Online Reading of The Gaza Monologues by Ashtar Theatre Palestine Event Poster.
Online Reading of The Gaza Monologues by Ashtar Theatre Palestine
Video

Online Reading of The Gaza Monologues by Ashtar Theatre Palestine

Theatremakers Publicly Performed The Gaza Monologues on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

Wednesday 29 November 2023
United States

Golden Thread Productions and Aviva Arts collaborated in their response to the urgent call put out by ASHTAR Theatre to theatremakers around the world to publicly read or perform The Gaza Monologues on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People—a significant day for those who value justice, equality, and freedom for the Palestinian people.

A promotional graphic for the Kunafa and Shay podcast
Queering Film
Podcast

Queering Film

22 November 2023

Film reaches a larger public than theatre due to the way it is produced and disseminated. In this way, it has a large and lasting cultural impact. In this episode with Mike Mossalem and Amin El Gamal, we discuss the ways the film and theatre fields influence each other as they both contribute to culture change and performance methodologies.

A promotional graphic for the Kunafa and Shay Podcast
Art, Activism, and Connecting to the Past
Podcast

Art, Activism, and Connecting to the Past

8 November 2023

Activism and storytelling often go hand in hand. What does it mean for queer art and activism to take center stage? How can we look to the future while honoring the places and people from where we all came? In this episode, Sivan Battat talks about their ancestral storytelling workshops within queer and Middle Eastern communities and how they see the relationship between art and activism.

shadow puppets representing a horse and a rabbit.
Global Puppetry in the United States
Video

Global Puppetry in the United States

A Presentation of Excerpts from Chinese Theatre Works (New York) and US Karagöz Theatre Company (Washington)

Monday 30 October 2023
New York City

An evening celebrating the work of New York based international puppet theatre company Chinese Theatre Works and Washington's US Karagöz Theatre Company. Ayhan Hulagu (KTC), Kuang-Yu Fong, Stephen Kaplin (CTW) presented excerpts from their repertoires and demonstrated the puppets. The panel was joined by Prof. Marvin Carlson, editor of one of the latest Segal Center Publications: Turkish Traditional Theatre: Karagöz Puppet Plays.

event poster for the Middle Eastern North African Theater Makers Alliance (MENATMA) 2023 convening.
Fourth Annual Convening of the Middle Eastern North African Theater Makers Alliance (MENATMA)
Video

Fourth Annual Convening of the Middle Eastern North African Theater Makers Alliance (MENATMA)

Conversations About the Present and Future of Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) Theatre

Saturday 28 October and Sunday 29 October 2023
San Francisco, CA

Does a Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) leader necessarily mean it's easier for MENA work to get produced? How do MENA theatremakers and educators from K-12 to university settings navigate questions of cultural competency, representation, and omission? How can we work together with other networks of color towards shared goals for our communities? MENATMA presented a weekend of intercommunity dialogues, panels, and keynotes to explore the state of MENA theater and artist sustainability moving forward.

Kunafa and Shay Teaser Image with guest headshot.
Art as Politics
Podcast

Art as Politics

25 October 2023

Is art inherently political? Must artists consider sociopolitics in the development of their work? Hamed Sinno’s art has been constantly and publicly politicized. In this episode, we hear about Sinno’s own artistic process and how they approach their art in light of this politicization and their perspective on the role of art in politics in the MENA region and beyond.

Kunafa and Shay Teaser Image with guest headshot.
Breaking Out of Queer Boxes
Podcast

Breaking Out of Queer Boxes

11 October 2023

Queer SWANA theatremakers are constantly breaking out of boxes. Even within queer and/or SWANA spheres, some artists are pushing boundaries and redefining broad identity categories. Join two such artists, Bazeed and Pooya Mohseni, in a discussion on the present and future of SWANA theatremaking.

Kunafa and Shay Teaser Image with guest headshot.
Queer Representation in the United States
Podcast

Queer Representation in the United States

27 September 2023

In this episode, playwright and dramaturg Adam Ashraf Elsayigh joins co-hosts Nabra Nelson and Marina Johnson to unpack what it means to put queer SWANA characters on stage and discuss the future of representation in the United States.

event poster for no summary critiquing the critics.
NO SUMMARY: Critiquing the Critics
Video

NO SUMMARY: Critiquing the Critics

The Reception of Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) Theatre in North America

Friday 4 August 2023
California

In collaboration with the Middle Eastern Theatre focus group at the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) annual conference, Golden Thread Productions invited Dr. Sarah Fahmy, a decolonial scholartist and co-founder of the Middle Eastern Theatre group at ATHE, and Marina Johnson, a scholar and director, to moderate a conversation on theatre criticism in the Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) artistic and academic worlds across the region and the diaspora today. Panelists discussed topics of cultural competency, the multiple forms of criticism, and the ways that SWANA artists and academics seek to change the game.

event poster for Retooling Green Tool for Theatre in Africa.
Retooling Green Tools for Theatre in Africa
Video

Retooling Green Tools for Theatre in Africa

Insights from Practitioners

Wednesday 19 July 2023
Egypt, Ghana

Greening the theatre is crucial to the sustainability of theatre and the planet. Theatre designers such as lighting personnel, set designers, costumers, property designers, and sound engineers are rethinking and retooling for the purpose of creating a more eco-friendly, sustainable, and environmentally just and responsible theatre practice. In this episode, we bring theatre practitioners (such as designers and eco-scenographers) who are advancing sustainable artistic values in their practice.

event poster for MENA Playwrights on Storytelling, with UW & Cal Poly Theatre Students.
NO SUMMARY: MENA Playwrights on Storytelling, with University of Washington and California Polytechnic State University Theatre Students
Video

NO SUMMARY: MENA Playwrights on Storytelling, with University of Washington and California Polytechnic State University Theatre Students

Delving into the Challenges and Opportunities of Bringing Diverse Stories to the Stage

Wednesday 7 June 2023
United States

The panel will be joined by a MENA American theatre class at California Polytechnic State University, designed by professor Hala Baki to imagine how MENA theatre can contribute to a more inclusive American culture, and a plays and styles drama class at the University of Washington, taught by Mona Merhi, who focused the course on topics related to race, ethnicity, and identity representation by examining the works of playwrights from the MENA region alongside modern and contemporary Western texts.

Event poster for muslims in the margins.
Muslims in the Margins
Video

Muslims in the Margins

A Joyful Panel on Underrepresented Perspectives

Monday 5 June 2023
United States

“There are three billion Muslims out there with inherently unique stories and you keep telling the same one. What does that mean?” “It means people want to keep hearing it.” Lines from Rehana Lew Mirza’s play Hatefuck ring truer than ever in a time where Muslim representation is growing yet still predictably homogenous.

Event poster for no summary Comedy as a Form of Solidarity and Resistance.
NO SUMMARY: Comedy as a Form of Solidarity and Resistance
Video

NO SUMMARY: Comedy as a Form of Solidarity and Resistance

A Conversation with Artists and Students of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Columbia College Chicago

Friday 14 April 2023
United States

In the first episode of our 2023 season, Golden Thread’s Sahar Assaf, executive artistic director, and Wafaa Bilal, artist-in-residence, will be joined by the classes of associate professor Simon Anderson, a British-born-and-educated cultural historian, and interdisciplinary Syrian artist Sami Hussain Ismat, at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Columbia College Chicago.

event poster for woman, life, freedom panel.
Woman, Life, Freedom: Theatre and Protest in Iran
Video

Woman, Life, Freedom: Theatre and Protest in Iran

A Virtual Roundtable

Monday 27 March
Maryland, United States

Roshan Institute for Persian Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park and The Theatre Times present Woman, Life, Freedom: Theatre and Protest in Iran, a virtual roundtable in honor of World Theatre Day. Featuring Azadeh Ganjeh, Nassim Soleimanpour, Keyvan Sarreshteh, and moderator Marjan Moosavi, this conversation will explore Iranian theatre artists’ ethical vision and creative practice in response to the Woman, Life, Freedom movement. This event will feature live captioning and ASL interpretation.

event poster for doing it for ourselves with speaker headshots.
SWANA and Queer in the Global Story
Video

SWANA and Queer in the Global Story

Doing It for Ourselves

Sunday 26 March 2023
Chicago, Illinois

Join playwright Martin Yousif Zebari and director Sivan Battat for an online conversation moderated by co–executive artistic director of Silk Road Rising Jamil Khoury about the intersections of SWANA and queer identities. This event will have live, human-written captions.

A still from Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World.
How Javaad Alipoor’s Fourth World Trilogy Disrupts What We Think We Understand About History, Politics, and the Internet
Essay

How Javaad Alipoor’s Fourth World Trilogy Disrupts What We Think We Understand About History, Politics, and the Internet

14 March 2023

Joseph Dunne-Howrie examines the way that three of Javaad Alipoor’s plays infuse the internet into theatrical performance, creating intersecting narratives that interrogate identity formation in the age of global interconnectivity.

event poster for no summary Critiquing the Critics: The Reception of MENA Productions .
NO SUMMARY: Critiquing the Critics
Video

NO SUMMARY: Critiquing the Critics

The Reception of MENA Productions

Friday 11 November 2022
United States

Golden Thread presented the conversation NO SUMMARY: Critiquing the Critics: The Reception of MENA Productions  livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network on Friday 11 November 2022 at 11 a.m. PST (San Francisco, UTC -8) / 1 p.m. CST (Chicago, UTC -6) / 2 p.m. EST (New York, UTC -5).