Seattle Rep Announces Casting for their Production of Sylvia Khoury’s Suspenseful New Play, SELLING KABUL
SEATTLE, WA (March 29, 2022) – Seattle Rep is excited to introduce its audiences to its 20x30 program’s commissioned playwright Sylvia Khoury with its production of Selling Kabul opening next month. Directed by Seattle’s Valerie Curtis-Newton (Seattle Rep: Nina Simone: Four Women; Seattle Rep New Directions Commission), Seattle Rep’s production of Selling Kabul will be performed in the Leo K. Theater and begin previews on April 22 with opening night on April 27. Single tickets and digital access may be purchased online at SeattleRep.org, or by calling the Patron Services Office at 206.443.2224.
Selling Kabul celebrated its World Premiere production in 2019 at Williamstown Theatre Festival and was a 2021 recipient of an Edgerton Foundation New Play Award. This play tells the intense story of the human cost of refugee policy and the oft-overlooked legacy of America’s longest war. Featuring performances from Yousof Sultani (The Repertory Theater of St Louis: The Gradient), Susaan Jamshidi (Goodman Theatre, Arena Stage, Berkeley Rep), Fatima Wardak (Seattle Rep: A Thousand Splendid Suns), and Barzin Akhavan (Seattle Rep: Romeo & Juliet and Twelfth Night).
“This play speaks to our collective shame as Americans both through its content and its continued relevance today,” Khoury explained in a previous statement. “What it depicts is an uncomplicated injustice: an American promise broken and a series of Afghan lives ruined. As a first-generation American, I am intimately acquainted with the promise and hope of living and working in this country. What is less often discussed is the uglier side to this American dream—particularly when it’s falsely dangled in front of you, and the pursuit of it puts you in danger. This felt urgent to write, half a decade ago, because a play can depict—in a way that the news cannot fully embody—the devastating, far-reaching consequences of American policies abroad."
The creative team for Selling Kabul includes Sylvia Khoury (Playwright), Valerie Curtis-Newton (Director), Lex Marcos (Scenic Designer), Dina El-Aziz (Costume Designer), Geoff Korf (Lighting Designer), D.R. Amromin (Sound Designer), Jeffrey K. Hanson (Stage Manager), and Humaira Ghilzai (Cultural Consultant).
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ABOUT SYLVIA KHORY (Playwright)
Sylvia Khoury is a New York-born writer of French and Lebanese descent. Her plays include Selling Kabul (Playwrights Horizons, Williamstown Theater Festival), Power Strip (LCT3), and Against the Hillside (Ensemble Studio Theater). She is currently under commission from Lincoln Center, Williamstown Theater Festival and Seattle Rep. Awards include the L. Arnold Weissberger Award, Jay Harris Commission, and a Citation of Excellence from the Laurents/Hatcher Awards. She is a member of EST/ Youngblood, a previous member of the 2018-2019 Rita Goldberg Playwrights’ Workshop at The Lark, and the 2016-2018 WP Lab. Her plays have been developed at Playwrights Horizons, Williamstown Theater Festival, Eugene O’Neill Playwrights’ Conference, Roundabout Theater Underground, Lark Playwrights’ Week, EST/Youngblood, and WP Theater. She holds a BA from Columbia University, an MFA from the New School for Drama, and an MD from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
ABOUT VALERIE CURTIS-NEWTON (Director)
Valerie Curtis-Newton is the Head of Directing and Playwriting at the University of Washington’s School of Drama, Valerie also serves as the Artistic Director for The Hansberry Project. Her recent work includes The Guthrie Theater, Seattle Rep, Intiman Theatre, Denver Center Theatre Company, West of Lenin, ArtsWest, Taper Forum, New York Theatre Workshop, among others. Valerie holds a BA from Holy Cross College and an MFA from the University of Washington. She has been awarded the National Endowment for the Arts/Theatre Communications Group Career Development Grant for Directors, the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation’s Gielgud Directing Fellowship, Theatre Puget Sound’s Gregory Falls Award for Sustained Achievement, Seattle Times’ 13 Most Influential Citizens of the last decade, the Seattle Stranger Genius Award in Performance and the Crosscut Courage Award for Culture.