A DISTINCT SOCIETY
Written & DIrected By Kareem Fahmy
Wednesday, July 16 at 3:00 pm
Open Jar Studios
1601 Broadway, 11th floor
(entrance on 48th street between B'way and 8th Avenue)
The reading is free, but make reservations by clicking the button:
The Haskell Free Library in Derby Line straddles the border of Vermont and Quebec and life is about to change amidst the tranquil hush of its cozy bookshelves. When an Iranian father and his daughter, separated by the international border, start using the library as a meeting place, the denizens of this quiet sanctuary find their lives suddenly full of excitement and consequence. Inspired by real events, A DISTINCT SOCIETY is a touching and funny new play about the many things – family, food, art, love, and politics – that can divide and unite us.
Cast:
Barzin Akhavan*
Jason Bowen*
Daniel Clark*
Polly Lee*
Nikki Massoud*
*Equity Member appearing with permission of Actors’ Equity Association without benefit of an Equity contract in this Off-Off Broadway production.
Kareem Fahmy is a NYC-based playwright and director from Sherbrooke, Quebec. Along with A Distinct Society, his plays American Fast (winner of the Woodward/Newman Award) and Dodi & Diana have been produced nationwide. Other plays include Riparian States, Fountains of Youth, Pareidolia, The In-Between, and an adaptation of the acclaimed novel The Yacoubian Building. Commissions: Audible, Artists Repertory Theatre, Colt Coeur, Ensemble Studio Theatre/Sloan Foundation, inaugural recipient of The Next Forever Commission from The Civilians and Princeton University. Fellowships Yaddo, MacDowell, Sundance, Bogliasco Center. Selected directing credits: Cincinnati Playhouse, Writers Theatre, Pioneer Theatre, Contemporary American Theatre Festival, Portland Stage, Crossroads Theatre. MFA - Directing, Columbia University.www.kareemfahmy.com
Daniel Clark is an actor based in New York City and an alum of Mason Gross School of the Arts. He co-originated the role of Declan Sheehan in the Co-World Premiere of A Distinct Society at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. Daniel has worked with a variety of theatres and festivals across the country including The Gulfshore Playhouse, Rehearsal for Truth, The Tent Theater, and Playwright's Horizons. Most recently, he starred in the Denver Center for the Performing Arts production of I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter.
Nikki Massoud is an Iranian-Canadian-American performer and writer. Her television credits include roles on Succession (HBO), Life & Beth (Hulu), Love Life (HBO Max), and Mozart in the Jungle (Amazon). Her notable theater performances include roles at Playwrights Horizons, New York Theater Workshop, the Goodman Theater, the Guthrie Theater, Berkeley Rep, and The Old Globe. Nikki is also the Audie Award-winning narrator of over 80 audiobooks, currently available on Audible. As a writer, she is a current Roundabout Underground Resident Playwright and a recent 2050 Artistic Fellow at New York Theater Workshop. She is a commissioned playwright with Noor Theater, Atlantic Theater Company, and The Acting Company. Education: Brown University/Trinity Rep MFA, Georgetown University and BADA. “Zan, Zendegi, Azadi.”