October 1–November 10, 2019
The World Premiere
Co-Produced with International Voices Project
Written by Fouad Teymour
Directed by Patrizia Acerra
In this 100-minute comedy, three Muslim women confront adultery and polygamy when one of their husbands marries a second wife. Friendship, fidelity, and faith are called into question as each woman reevaluates bonds once believed unbreakable, and discovers humor amongst the heartbreak.
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Read MoreMarch 11–April 7, 2019
The World Premiere
Co-Produced with Stage Left Theatre
Written and Performed by Karim Nagi
Directed by Anna C. Bahow
This one-man musical, co-produced with Stage Left Theatre, takes us on an alternative tour of the Arab World & Arab America. Using lyrics, percussion & an urban soundscape, master storyteller and musician Karim Nagi guides us through a social and political labyrinth, extolling the virtues of revolution, immigration, and hummus along the way.
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Read MoreNovember 30–December 11, 2018
A Workshop Production
Adapted and Directed by Corey Pond
Music Direction by Emma Hospelhorn
Choir Direction by Erik Nussbaum
Christmas Mubarak is a first-of-its-kind musical/theatre interplay of the Quranic and New Testament stories that celebrates the miraculous birth, life, and ascension of Jesus. This festive holiday performance features actors from our Silk Road communities and choir members from the First United Methodist Church at The Chicago Temple.
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Read MoreMay 17- 27, 2018
A Workshop Production
Written and Performed by Anu Bhatt
Directed by Barbara Zahora
Anu Bhatt combines the personal with the poetic in her one-woman show about depression, body image, and confronting sexual abuse. Seeking to balance and embrace two identities, Bhatt explores her South Asian American background with courage and insightful humor. A mix of raw memories, lyricism and tough truths, Hollow/Wave is a daring dance for empowerment through a sea of imperfection.
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Read MoreMarch 7–April 15, 2018
The World Premiere
Written by Novid Parsi
Directed by Carin Silkaitis
Having fled Iran where he was imprisoned for being a gay man, a damaged Razi arrives at his sister's doorstep in Chicago only to disrupt the life she and her American husband built together. As the Chicago Cubs vie to make history, rivalries of a different kind simmer in the Uptown two-flat that Razi tries to call home. With echoes of A Streetcar Named Desire, Novid Parsi's world premiere drama probes the boundaries between family, loss, prejudice, and desire.
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Read MoreNovember 9–December 17, 2017
The U.S. Premiere
Written by Candace Chong
Translated from Chinese by Joanna C. Lee and Ken Smith
Adapted by David Henry Hwang
Directed by Helen Young
A gripping investigation of journalistic integrity, city planning, and social conscience, Wild Boar is a new play from one of Hong Kong’s most acclaimed playwrights. When a controversial professor goes missing, an editor and his student band together to publicize the truth. Old flames spark and friendships are tested in the U.S. premiere of this turbulent thriller about media manipulation, fake news, and who gets to speak for the poor.
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Read MoreMay 11–July 2, 2017
The U.S. Premiere
Co-Produced with Remy Bumppo Theatre Company
Written by Charles Dickens
Adapted by Tanika Gupta
Co-Directed by Lavina Jadhwani and Nick Sandys
Dickens’ beloved tale of aspiration, intrigue, and romance is thrillingly transplanted to a colonized India by award-winning British Bengali playwright Tanika Gupta. When Indian orphan Pip receives a mysterious inheritance, he must choose between his humble rural life and the city life of an English “gentleman.” In a vibrant clash of cultures, classes, and conscience, Gupta's brilliant adaptation expands Dickens' enduring question: Is it worth losing who you are for who you might become?
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Read MoreDecember 1–December 23, 2016
The World Premiere
Written and Performed by Christine Bunuan
Directed by J.R. Sullivan
Musical Direction by Ryan Brewster
This new holiday musical revue puts a Silk Road spin on the Christmas season. Chicago favorite Christine Bunuan invites you into her world with Christmas at Christine's. Journey from California to Chicago to the Philippines to a Catholic-Jewish household as Christine sings her way through the holiday songbook and a lifetime of yuletide memories.
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Read MoreSeptember 06–September 25, 2016
The World Premiere
Written and Performed by Azhar Usman
Directed by Aaron Todd Douglas
Famed comedian, Azhar Usman, takes to the stage with this brutally honest, unflinching one-man show exploring the tensions and paradoxes surrounding the double consciousness of American Muslims living in an ever-polarizing modern world.
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Read MoreMarch 24–May 15, 2016
The World Premiere
Written by Jamil Khoury
Directed by Edward Torres
Inspired by the “Ground Zero Mosque” controversy in New York City, Mosque Alert tells the story of three fictional families living in Naperville, Illinois, whose lives are interrupted by a proposed Islamic Center on the site of a beloved local landmark. Mosque Alert explores the intersections of zoning and Islamophobia with humor, family drama, and refreshingly blunt honesty.
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Read MoreFebruary 18–February 28, 2016
The World Premiere
Written and Performed by Ronnie Malley
Directed by Anna C. Bahow
Take an enchanting musical journey to 9th century Islamic Spain with Muslim American musical impresario Ronnie Malley. Arabic music, poetry, and songs breathe life into the story of Ziryab, a former slave whose musical abilities brought him fame throughout Al-Andalus: a land where Christians, Jews and Muslims co-existed for more than seven centuries and created a unique and diverse society.
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Read MoreNovember 19–22, 2015
A Workshop Production
Written and Performed by Jameeleh Shelo
Directed by Jessica Mitolo
Through a diverse group of characters, this sketch comedy show offers a lovable view into the life of a Middle Eastern American woman from the South Side of Chicago as she navigates her way through cultural pressures and societal assumptions. What happens when the Mid-East meets the Mid-West? The answers will fill you with laughter and joy!
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Read MoreOctober 1–4, 2015
A Workshop Production
Written and Performed by Marissa Lichwick
Directed by Lavina Jadhwani
Born out of her experiences growing up as a Korean-adoptee in a family of ten in upstate New York, this coming-of-age, one-woman show follows two orphans through the streets of South Korea, into the suburban American heartland, and their fortuitous journey back. Back to Korea, back to their past.
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Read MoreAugust 13–16, 2015
A Workshop Production
Written and Performed by Puja Mohindra
Directed by Andrew Volkoff
Geeta Gidwani doesn’t want the arranged marriage her parents have. She’s an American girl and wants to fall madly in love, like she’s seen in Shakespeare, Bollywood movies and her favorite show, Friends. But after a family trip to a holy Indian temple inspires her to wish for a soulmate, she meets Manish, standing at the corner of tradition and fairytale.
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Read MoreJune 11–14, 2015
Written and Performed by Rohina Malik
Co-Directed by Wayne Maugans and Nick Westemeyer
Racism. Hate crimes. Love. Islam. Culture. Language. Life. Five Muslim women in a post-9/11 world serve tea and uncover what lies beneath the veil in this compelling one-woman show.
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Read MoreApril 23–26, 2015
A Workshop Production
Written and Performed by Minita Gandhi
Directed by Heidi Stillman
The life of a young Indian-American woman is forever changed when, on a retreat to her homeland, she unearths family secrets, encounters a prophet, and ultimately discovers her own voice. The Familiar and the Foreign swap roles in this dark comedy about culture, identity, spirituality, and sexuality.
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Read MoreFebruary 19–22, 2015
The Chicago Premiere
Written and Performed by Kim Schultz
Original Direction by Sarah Cameron Sunde
Falling in love with an Iraqi refugee was never part of Kim Schultz’s plan, but a man named Omar changed all that. No Place Called Home is that unexpected story—a story about an American woman and an Iraqi man, a story about one refugee in 2 million, a story that isn’t supposed to be a love story.
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Read MoreOctober 16–November 23, 2014
The Midwest Premiere
Written by Christopher Chen
Directed by Joanie Schultz
Digital media becomes the perfect "ally" for a group of actors collectively creating a play about Mao Tse Tung's Cultural Revolution. As their work-in-progress starts morphing into a propaganda play about the play itself, disturbing questions arise as to who, or what, is controlling the narrative.
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Read MoreMarch 27–May 4, 2014
The Chicago Premiere
Co-Production with About Face Theatre
Written by Aditi Brennan Kapil
Directed by Andrew Volkoff
In this provocative play masquerading as a stand-up comedy routine, an Indian intersex person explores history, mythology, gender roles. . . and high school. Funny, cynical, inventive and intensely charismatic, Brahman/i takes on more than a dozen unforgettable characters in a fascinating life story that most of us can barely even begin to imagine.
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Read MoreNovember 7–December 15, 2013
The World Premiere
Written by Motti Lerner
Translated from Hebrew by Hillel Halkin
Directed by Jimmy McDermott
A compassionate but wary 62-year-old Jesus and an egomaniacal Emperor Nero torment the ailing psyche of the Apostle Paul as he struggles to universalize monotheism against fierce opposition from a Jewish religious establishment threatened with spiritual extinction.
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