SAN FRANCISCO: Golden Thread Productions has announced its 2018 season, featuring four productions, a showcase, and a new-play festival.
“As the political leadership and the media fail at modeling meaningful discussion, theatre becomes the space where crucial conversations take place,” said artistic director Torange Yeghiazarian in a statement. “This year’s programming is provocative, inspiring, and presented in intimate spaces to facilitate brave and open conversations about deeply held values and the character of our nation.”
The season will start with Amir Nizar Zuabi’s Oh My Sweet Land (March 1-30), a solo show in which a Syrian-German woman reckons with her heritage all while preparing kibbeh, a Syrian delicacy. The play will be performed in private kitchens around the Bay Area. Nora el Samahy will star, and Yeghiazarian will direct.
Next up will be the U.S. premiere of Hassan Abdulrazzak’s Love, Bombs, and Apples (April 19-May 6), presented in association with Turtle Key Arts, a comic tale about four men from different parts of the world, each experiencing a moment of revelation. The cast will include Asif Khan, and Rosemunde Hutt will direct.
Following will be Mona Mansour’s We Swim, We Talk, We Go to War (Nov. 16-Dec. 16), a Middle East America: National New Plays Initiative commission, about a woman of Arab descent and her nephew, who has enlisted in the military. Evren Odcikin will direct.
Next will be What Do the Women Say? 2018: Dismantling Patriarchy (March 8), a showcase of artwork and music by Middle Eastern women artists in celebration of International Women’s Day. The lineup will include works by Dena Al-Aadeeb, Yasmine Diaz, Naima Shalhoub, and Farnoosh Moshiri.
The programming will also include the New Threads 2018 Reading Series (June), featuring four new plays.
The season will continue with Guillermo Calderón’s Kiss (Aug. 23-Sept. 23), presented in association with Shotgun Players, a political thriller about a group of actors who discover a script set in Damascus and get a glimpse of what it’s really like to live in Syria. Odcikin will direct.
Founded in 1996, Golden Thread Productions produces plays and events that represent excellence, defy stereotypes, and celebrate the multiplicity of perspectives and identities from the Middle East.
