August 2018
Staged readings of three plays translated from Chinese to English that highlight the work of contemporary playwrights from the Chinese speaking world. Stylistically and aesthetically diverse, the featured plays examine a Chinese society rife with tensions between tradition and accelerating change, consumerism and communism, and authoritarianism and personal freedom. New China Festival will also include a panel discussion about the state of theatre in the Chinese speaking world and the insights American audiences can gain from Chinese plays.
Read More2016 - Present
Arab and Muslim voices are far too seldom heard in the American theatre. Often when they are, it’s in service to affirming worst fears and stereotypes. As an antidote to this crisis of representation, we established Crescent and Star, an initiative grounded in our commitments to commissioning new plays and supporting Arab American and Muslim American playwrights. Creating complicated, three dimensional stories informed by personal experiences of identity, community, tradition, and faith, is the primary goal. For when Arab and Muslim artists have a forum to explore the challenges and complexities of their lives, the seeds for change are inevitably sown.
Read More2015 - Present
The narrative legacy of the historic Silk Road was embodied, in part, by traveling storytellers and the epic poems and tales with which they regaled their audiences. As our nod to that legacy, with Silk Road Solos we both develop and produce solo performance pieces and one-person plays, and we do so in collaboration with Asian American and Middle Eastern American writers/performers. The initiative provides solo artists the resources and support necessary to translate personal experiences into theatrical journeys that are courageous, poignant, illuminating, and entertaining.
Read More2013 - Present
Everything you’ve wanted to know about the four hijabs, but didn’t think to ask! This ground-breaking initiative adapts the scholarly work of Dr. Manal Hamzeh, Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies & Gender and Sexuality Studies at New Mexico State University, situating her work within artistic and pedagogical inquiries around feminist ijtihad, Muslimness, and gender justice. Rooted in feminist interpretations of sixteen Koranic verses relating to the visual, spacial, ethical, and spiritual hijabs, The Hijab Cycle challenges traditional readings of sacred texts—a process best illustrated in the animated short film The Four Hijabs.
Read MoreFebruary 15, 2013 - January 19, 2014
In the spirit of bringing live theatre to Silk Road communities, this collaborative partnership with the Ismaili Community Center of Chicago introduced our work to local Shi’a Ismaili Muslims, a community comprised largely of families from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Because the community’s daily prayer schedule conflicts with most theatre performances, their exposure to live stagework is limited. This initiative enabled us to present enhanced staged readings of three new plays, each with a Muslim theme, and each performed by professional actors in the community center’s social hall. Each performance was followed by a Q&A.
Read More2011 - Present
Inspired by the 2010 “ground zero mosque” controversy in New York City, playwright and Silk Road Rising co-founder, Jamil Khoury, set out to investigate resistance to the building of mosques in communities across the U.S., and the intersections of Islamophobia, zoning, and public policy. Khoury developed a nine-step process that includes digital and live theatre components, and invites virtual and live audiences to weigh in on artistic decision-making and matters of civic importance. This first-of-its-kind initiative crowd sources its creative processes and encourages open, unfiltered public dialogue.
Read More2009 - Present
Our online initiative, SouthAsianPlaywrights.org, allows us to generate greater exposure and more opportunities for American and Canadian playwrights of South Asian backgrounds. This initiative defines South Asians as people with ancestry in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, including people of mixed ancestries, who create works relevant to their intersectional identities. SouthAsianPlaywrights.org connects participating playwrights and their (English language) plays with theatre companies, cultural organizations, academic institutions, artistic directors, producers, literary managers, editors, publishers, and agents.
Read More2008 - 2009
Silk Road Sojourns was a 11-episode video series, launched in 2008, that sought to connect new audiences with the artists and thinkers that inspire us. Aired on Chicago's CAN-TV (a Cable Access Network station) and streamed on Silk Road Rising's YouTube channel, the program established an easily-accessible forum from which we could share insights on creative processes while exploring the motivations and challenges inherent to telling a story. Featured guests included Silk Road playwrights who contextualized the world of their art within real-world political and cultural frameworks.
Read More2008 - Present
A tri-coastal initiative between San Francisco's Golden Thread Productions, New York's Lark Play Development Center, and Chicago's Silk Road Rising, Middle East America creates opportunities for American playwrights of Middle Eastern and North African backgrounds to challenge and expand representation of Middle Eastern peoples, and to better integrate their stories into the canon of American theatre. Playwrights nominated for Middle East America are vetted in a highly-competitive application process, and the winner receives both a cash commission and extensive developmentsupport as they write a new play.
Read More2008
In 2006, a TimeOut Chicago article posed the question, “Why is Chicago Theatre so White, and how can we fix it?” In response, four theatre companies designed a season of plays that reflected the diversity of our city. The initiative, aptly named Looks Like Chicago, offered audiences a season-long subscription series featuring plays at Silk Road, Congo Square, Remy Bumppo, and Teatro Vista—each company with its own unique commitment to cultural representation. At season’s end, subscribers gathered at the Chicago Cultural Center for a town hall meeting, which included a candid conversation on the state of diversity in Chicago theatre.
Read MoreJuly 19-22, 2007
In July 2007, Silk Road Rising organized and hosted Desi Drama: The First National South Asian American Theatre Conference, an invite-only convening that drew over 30 theatre artists and professionals from across the South Asian Diaspora. Together they worked to identify challenges often facing theatre professionals of South Asian heritage, while exploring strategies to create SATAM (South Asian American Theatre Arts Movement). The initiative resulted in a commitment to build southasianplaywrights.org, as well as plans to commission new plays, encourage co-producing partnerships, and provide mentorship to emerging artists.
Read MoreJune 4-August 27, 2006
Silk Road Chicago was the brainchild of Chicago’s late Commissioner of Cultural Affairs, Lois Weisberg, and internationally acclaimed cellist and Silk Road Ensemble founder, Yo-Yo Ma. Encompassing 200+ events and activities all across the city, more than 70 cultural and educational organizations participated in this season-long exploration of artistic traditions and cross-cultural interchange. Silk Road Rising’s contribution included public staged readings of four full length plays under the collective banner of Silk Road Summer of Staged Readings Series.
Read MoreDecember 4-5, 2004
A blossoming partnership with the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs propelled Silk Road Rising to spearhead the Saving Face Festival, a showcase for Chicago’s Asian American theatre artists. This festival found an ad hoc alliance of seven nonprofit theatre companies coming together to present a range of Asian American stories. These stories deliberately undermined the cultural imperative of “saving face,” with its proscriptions against airing “dirty laundry.” Indeed, participants set out to give a new face to Asian American representation—one that airs our authenticity, complexity, and diversity, while safeguarding individual expression.
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