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World Premiere!
Disgraced
Written by Ayad Akhtar New York. Today. A Muslim-American lawyer is rapidly moving up the corporate ladder while he distances himself from his cultural roots. At the moment of achieving his life-long ambitions, he falls victim to professional and personal betrayals, not least of which is his betrayal of himself. American Theater Company teams up with the Broadway producers of Urinetown and last season's A View From The Bridge to premiere Ayad Akhtar's examination of a modern Muslim-American struggling to define his identity.
January 27 through February 26
design team Ayad Akhtar (Playwright) earned a degree in Theater from Brown University and, after graduating, moved to Tuscany to work with world-renowned acting theorist and pioneer, Jerzy Grotowski (Towards a Poor Theater). He has been a New York City resident since the late nineties where he has taught acting on his own and alongside Andre Gregory (My Dinner With Andre, Vanya on 42nd St). An alumnus of the Graduate Film Program at Columbia University, Ayad earned a degree in directing and won multiple awards for his work. He is the author of numerous screenplays. He co-wrote and played the lead role in The War Within, which premiered at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival. It was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award (Best Screenplay) and an International Press Academy Satellite Award (Best Picture - Drama) and released internationally. Ayad’s first novel, American Dervish was published January, 2012 by Little Brown and Company, and will be released in 21 languages worldwide over the coming months. His latest stage plays include Disgraced and The Invisible Hand. The Invisible Hand will be premiering at St. Louis Repertory Theater in 2012. Kimberly Senior (Director) is a Chicago based freelance director. Chicago credits include: Want, The North Plan (Steppenwolf), Madagascar, The Overwhelming and The Busy World is Hushed (Next), Waiting for Lefty (American Blues), Old Times, The Conquest of the South Pole, Uncle Vanya, Cherry Orchard, Three Sisters, Fuddy Meers, and Knives in Hens (Strawdog), Bad Dates and Mouse Cop (Fox Valley Repertory), Bug and The Pillowman (Redtwist Theatre), Thieves Like Us (The House Theatre), All My Sons and Dolly West's Kitchen (TimeLine Theatre) among others. Regional: A Few Good Men (Peninsula Players), Mauritius (Theatre Squared, Fayetteville, AR). Upcoming: The North Plan (Theater Wit), After the Revolution (Next) and Cripple of Inishmaan (Redtwist). Kimberly is an Artistic Associate at Next Theatre, Strawdog Theatre, and Chicago Dramatists. She is on the faculty of Columbia College Chicago (2010 Excellence in Teaching Award Winner). Kimberly lives in Evanston with scenic designer, Jack Magaw, and her children, Noah and Delaney, and is a proud member of SDC. www.kimberlysenior.net scenic design Jack Magaw+ costume design Janice Pytel+ lighting design Christine Binder+ sound design Kevin O’Donnell properties design Nick Heggestad fight choreography David Woolley production stage manager Katie Klemme* artwork by Nils Folke Anderson
the ensemble Usman Ally (Amir) is an American Theater Company Ensemble Member, and holds an MFA in Acting from the University of Florida. Usman is best known for originating the role of VP in the award-winning World Premiere production of The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity (Victory Gardens), which he reprised Off-Broadway (Second Stage) and in Los Angeles (Geffen Playhouse.) Other theater credits include Celebrity Row (ATC), Arabian Nights (Lookingglass, Arena Stage), Around The World In 80 Days (Baltimore Centerstage, Kansas City Rep), Lilka Kadison (Lookingglass), The Four Of Us (Theater Wit), Tranquility Woods (Steppenwolf Theatre) and many more. Film and TV credits include Just Like A Woman, Chicago Code (Fox) and a recurring guest role on Season 4 of Damages (Audience Network). Usman is a recipient of the Fox Foundation/TCG Grant for Actors of Extraordinary Potential. He is the writer of several hip-hop poetry shows, and of an upcoming untitled play. Following the conclusion of Disgraced, Usman will return to Los Angeles to film a role in the new JJ Abrams-directed Star Trek sequel. www.usmanally.com Alana Arenas (Jory) is originally from Miami, Florida, and traveled to Chicago to study at DePaul University's The Theatre School. Since receiving her BFA in 2002, Alana has been seen in Black Diamond (Lookingglass Theatre), Late Bus to Mecca (Eclipse Theatre), Eyes (ETA), Sost and Notes From The Bottletree (MPAACT), Hecuba, Love's Labour's Lost, and Short Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre), The Way We Were and WVON (Black Ensemble Theatre). In 2007 Alana was invited to join the Steppenwolf Theatre Ensemble, where she created and reprised the role of Pecola Breedlove in the The Bluest Eye, which also played at the New Victory Theater Off-Broadway. Other Steppenwolf credits include Mary Warren in The Crucible, Dolly in Spare Change and various roles in The Sparrow Project, both for First Look Repertory of New Work. Recent on camera credits include: The Beast, Baby On Board and the role of Iyalode in Lioness of Lisabi. Behzad Dabu (Abe/Hussein) is thrilled to work with ATC for the first time. Behzad hails from Syracuse, NY and moved to Chicago (which he now calls home) in 2005 and has since been performing on various stages all over town, most recently, in TheatreSeven's We Live Here -- following a long run as Romeo/Tybalt in Shattered Globe's site-specific production of Romeo and Juliet. Before that, he could be seen in First Folio's Twelfth Night as Sebastian, The Goodman's Christmas Carol as Dick Wilkins and in the original cast of The History Boys at TimeLine Theatre (Jeff Award winner for Best Ensemble). In addition to stage work, he can be seen and heard in various commercial and voice-over spots. Behzad attended Columbia College Chicago, where he currently works full-time as an international representative. Special thanks to this supremely talented cast and crew and my extraordinarily supportive friends, co-workers and family. Benim Foster (Isaac) is pleased to be making his ATC (and Chicago) debut. Benim's credits include Broadway’s Barefoot In The Park (with Patrick Wilson, Amanda Peet, directed by Scott Elliot) and The Roundabout Theatre Company's National Tour of Twelve Angry Men (with Richard Thomas and George Wendt, directed by Scott Ellis.) Off-Broadway credits include Becky Shaw at Second Stage, Last Train To Nibroc (Drama League Nomination for Best Play) and The Public Theatre’s Henry V (Directed by Doug Hughes). Some regional credits include Merchant Of Venice, The Venetian Twins, Sleuth (with Keir Dullea), Much Ado About Nothing, Modern Orthodox and the world premiers of A Higher Place In Heaven and Duplex, for which Benim received an award for Best Actor from NYC's Midtown International Theatre Festival. Benim starred in the indie film favorite Stags in which he received a best actor nomination from NYC's Visionfest Film Festival. Other film credits include The Flying Scissors (with Matthew Arkin), Analyze This, Broadway Damage, the award-winning short Imperfection and the IFC's The Undeserved. TV credits include Fringe, Ugly Betty, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, Guiding Light, As The World Turns, Another World, and All My Children. Benim is a graduate of the North Carolina School Of The Arts. He lives in NYC with his partner, actress Rachel Bay Jones, and their two girls, and is very proud to be a part of Disgraced. www.benimfoster.com Lee Stark (Emily) is delighted make her ATC debut. Other Chicago credits include The Crucible at Steppenwolf, Talking Pictures at The Goodman, Eurydice at Victory Gardens, Short Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet at Chicago Shakespeare, and Scenes from the Big Picture with Seanachai Theatre Company. A company member at the Pearl Theatre in New York, credits there include The Playboy of the Western World, Misalliance and The Sneeze. Regional credits include Dracula at Indiana Rep and Geva Theatre Center, Two Gentlemen of Verona at Great Lakes Theatre and Idaho Shakespeare, and Pride and Prejudice, The Cherry Orchard and Seven Keys to Slaughter Peak at Milwaukee Rep. Lee is a graduate of Northwestern University, and she is terribly happy to be living again in home sweet Chicago.
Letter from PJ Dear Friends, Welcome to American Theater Company and the world premiere of Ayad Akhtar’s Disgraced. I’m white. I grew up in a predominantly white Christian community. The main access to other cultures and international politics was through the media, in particular the nightly news. Like most Caucasian Americans, the media shaped my exposure to Islamic culture. Then came the September 11 attacks, which arguably defined American sentiment toward Muslims here and abroad. We began to foster dangerous, unspoken generalizations about Muslim culture. What is disturbing is that some of these sentiments remain. I firmly believe theatre is a medium through which communities may safely gather to examine difficult, important issues in American society. Disgraced is the first major American play to tackle the complexity of Muslim American identity from an insider’s perspective. In his professional playwriting debut, Ayad introduces us to Amir Kapoor, an ambitious and intelligent American trapped between cultures and identities. The play examines the moment when those identities collide, with explosive consequences. Disgraced focuses on a Muslim American’s pursuit of the American Dream, but Amir’s journey is universal. Regardless of our cultural, familial, or socioeconomic roots, we all have a desire to forge our own identity. The desire to improve upon our origins is part of the American psyche. Unfortunately, the journey is a bit more complicated for Muslims in a post-9/11 America. Disgraced continues ATC’s tradition of premiering bold, innovative American plays here in Chicago. We are proud to partner with The Araca Group, one of Broadway’s leading producing organizations. ATC and The Araca Group share the belief that theater effects change. The Araca Group’s commitment to producing socially-conscious work at the highest levels of American theater inspires our own literary efforts here in Chicago. If you find Disgraced provocative, I encourage you to continue your personal exploration of Muslim American culture by delving into Ayad Akhtar’s first novel, American Dervish, recently released by Little Brown & Co. We are honored to share this crucial American story with you today. Your Artistic Director, PJ
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Chicago Tribune