CHICAGO: Silk Road Rising has announced its 2016-17 season, featuring two world premieres.
“From stand-up comedy to musical theatre, from global conflict to Charles Dickens, some might call it eclectic, but I call it exciting!”” said artistic director Jamil Khoury in a statement.
The season will begin with the world premiere of Ultra American: a Patriot Act (Sept. 6-25), written and performed by comedian Azhar Usman, a one-man show that explores the tensions and paradoxes surrounding the double consciousness of American Muslims living in an ever-polarizing world. Aaron Todd Douglas will direct.
Just in time for the holidays will be the world premiere of Christmas at Christine’s (Dec. 1-23), written and performed by Christine Bunuan, a holiday musical revue journeying from California to the Philippines to a Catholic-Jewish household. J.R. Sullivan will direct.
Next up will be Semitic Commonwealth (Feb. 10-26, 2017), a staged reading series of six plays by Arab and Jewish playwrights exploring the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The series will be curated by Jamil Khoury, Michael Malek Najjar, and Corey Pond.
The season will conclude with the U.S. premiere of Great Expectations (May 11-July 2, 2017), adapted by Tanika Gupta from Charles Dickens, about an Indian orphan who receives a mysterious inheritance and must choose between his rural life and a life in the city. The coproduction with Remy Bumppo Theatre Company will be codirected by Lavina Jadhwani and Nick Sandys.
Silk Road Rising, founded in 2002, produces stories through Asian-American and Middle-Eastern American lenses, and promotes a polycultural worldview.
