The Thousand and One Nights Workshop – February 19-March 1

ABOUT

Many years ago, a story was stolen from the land of people who named the stars. This production of (The Thousand and One Nights) reclaims that tale as a call to action. A bitter king, consumed by vengeance, takes a new bride each night only to have her executed at dawn, until the brilliant and courageous Scheherazade steps forward. For a thousand and one nights, she weaves a tapestry of tales, each granting her another dawn. Through Hakawati oral tradition, poetry, puppetry, and music, this production blends Arabic folklore with contemporary stories, confronting the impact of colonialism while celebrating the resilience of Indigenous communities worldwide.

BIOS

Ghina Fawaz  is a Lebanese-American director, playwright, and artist. Her work blends art and activism, drawing on folklore, oral histories, and creative resistance to amplify underrepresented voices. Past works include (The Thousand and One Nights), a theatrical call to action weaving folklore, poetry, puppetry, and traditional Hakawati storytelling to resist colonialism; Antlers, developed through interviews with people from Southern Lebanon about their experiences with occupation, weaving oral histories into a fantastical theatrical journey through puppetry; Three Sisters, an adaptation reimagining Chekhov’s Olga, Masha, and Irina as refugees trapped in an airport awaiting their flight to Moscow that never comes; and Watermelon Boy, developed in collaboration with Chaesong Kim and Anuka Sethi, part folktale, part documentary theatre, about a boy living under occupation who, after eating the seed of a forbidden fruit, transforms into a watermelon. Fawaz has also directed new works by Meg Ledford (Conservation of Matter, Miss.Lydia Bennet), Andrew Reid (Here, Time Feels So…), and Dacyl Acevedo (From One Token to Another).

Begüm “Begsy” Inal is an artist born and raised in Turkey. Begsy graduated from Columbia University’s Dramaturgy MFA and brings their multi-disciplinary work and Turkish delight into many different aspects of performance such as script writing/development, stage, props and costume designing. Specializing in oral history, accessibility, folklore and community engagement, Begsy is committed to uplifting marginalized voices and stories. They’re the Development & Marketing Coordinator at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, and have been the dramaturg for National Queer Theater’s annual Criminal Queerness Festival for the past four years at: Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, PACNYC, and HERE Arts Center.

CREDITS

Director/Playwright: Ghina Fawaz 

Co-adapters Begüm “Begsy” Inal and Ghina Fawaz 

Dramaturg: Begüm “Begsy” Inal

Producer: Vick Liu

Line Producers: Anuka Sethi, Shayan Hooshmand

Production Stage Manager: Qixuan Sun

Stage Managers: Diana Chen

Music Director: Aidan Lord

Co-Scenic Designer: Jackson Key

Co-Scenic Designer: Gaya Chatterjee

Costume Designer: Dante Gonzalez  

Co-Lighting Designer: Steele Whitney

Co-Lighting Designer: Chris Hanian

Props & Puppets Designer: Emma Ruth Mathews    

Marketing by Pop Up! Productions

 

FEATURING

Karma Alami – Scheherazade

Mark Yowakim – King Shahryar

Lour Yasin – Dunyazad

Eli Crenshaw-Smith – Hakawati

Shayan Hooshmand – Hakawati

Nicole Ponce – Hakawati

Anuka Sethi – Hakawati

Mikael Gemeda-Breka – Hakawati

Hannah Nguyen – Musician Hakawati

Aidan Lord – Musician Hakawati

Danielle Breitstein – Musician Hakawati