Silk Road Rising (Founding Artistic Director Jamil Khoury and Founding Executive Director Malik Gillani) and Momentary Theatre (Co-Curators Matthew T. Messina and Jacob C. Shuler) are proud to announce the World Premiere of "My Dear Hussein", written by Nahal Navidar, and directed by Tlaloc Rivas. The production will run March 17 to April 19, 2020 at Silk Road Rising located at 77 W. Washington St., Lower Level, Chicago, IL, 60602. The Press Opening is Sunday, March 22 at 4:00pm.
Synopsis
A child, a toy dog, and a ruthless dictator walk into a war zone and fanciful imagination breaks free. This surrealistic tale of a four-year-old Iranian girl unfolds amidst the carnage of the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s. The lines between playful fantasy and brutal warfare are gradually blurred as ugly realities become harder to mask.
Cast/Crew
The creative team for My Dear Hussein includes Nahal Navidar (Playwright), Tlaloc Rivas (Director), Corey Pond (Associate Producer), Andy Lynn (Production Manager and Scenic Designer), Kristin Mazzocca (Stage Manager), Samia Malik (Assistant Scenic Designer), Allyson Leisure (Costume Designer), Sam van Loon (Lighting Designer), Aidan McBreen (Properties Designer), Jacob C. Shuler (Dramaturg), and Amanda Grissom (Assistant Stage Manager).
The cast includes Shadee Vossoughi as Parvaneh, Rom Barkhordar* as Baba/Saddam Hussein, Ninos Baba as Hussein, Joan Nahid as Maman/News Reporter, and Jaq Seifert as Javad. Understudies include Marielle Issa, Josh Razavi, and Emma Sheikh.
* Denotes member of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers.
About the Playwright
Nahal Navidar (Playwright) is an Iranian-born dramatist raised in upstate New York. Her plays are motivated by the exploration of social issues while employing magical elements to embody the expanse of human emotions. Nahal’s plays have been developed at Momentary Theatre, Boston Court, Silk Road Rising, Ensemble Studio Theatre LA, The Vagrancy Writer’s Group, Rogue Machine Dramaturge’s Table, Coeurage Theatre CoLab Play Development, Pasadena Playhouse, Playwright’s Arena, Troy Foundry Theatre, Voices of the Marianas, The Last Frontier Theatre Conference, Golden Thread Productions, Company of Angels New Play Series, The Kennedy Center, and The University at Albany. Nahal is a member of the Dramatist's Guild of America and holds an MFA in Dramatic Writing from the University of Southern California.
About the Director
Tlaloc Rivas (Director) is a self-identified Chicano who is an award-winning writer and theatre director. He is also the co-founder of the Latinx Theatre Commons, which works side by side with HowlRound to revolutionize American theater and to highlight and promote the contributions and presence of Latinx in theatre. Central to Rivas' work is the Latinx experience, but also exploring the American experience through the lens' of underrepresented voices. Rivas focuses on writing and directing plays that significantly explore Latinx identity and history. Additionally, Rivas has also translated and adapted plays from the Spanish language and directed Spanish-language and bilingual plays such as Mariela in the Desert by Karen Zacarias and classical works such as Peribáñez y el Comendador de Ocaña.
Previews
- Tuesday, March 17 at 7:30pm
- Thursday, March 19 at 8:00pm
Press Opening - Sunday, March 22 at 4:00pm
Regular Run - March 22–April 19, 2020
Performance Schedule
- Mondays: 7:30pm*
- Tuesdays: 7:30pm
- Fridays: 8:00pm
- Saturdays: 4:00pm
- Sundays: 4:00pm
*March 30 and April 6 ONLY
Tickets
Preview Performances: $28 for adults, $15.50 for students
Regular Performances: $38 for adults, $28 for students
Tickets are now on sale and can be purchased at www.silkroadrising.org or by calling the Silk Road Rising Box Office at 312.857.1234 x201.
Location
All performances will take place at: Silk Road Rising, 77 W. Washington St, Lower Level, Chicago, IL 60602
About Silk Road Rising
Silk Road Rising creates live theatre and online videos that tell stories through primarily Asian American and Middle Eastern American lenses. In representing communities that intersect and overlap, we advance a polycultural worldview.
About Momentary Theatre
Through our investigation of shared mythologies, we curate works of live performance that record, reveal, and react to human progress over time.