I'M NOT EVEN HALF to Make World Premiere at The Bushwick Starr

The Bushwick Starr will partner with ¡OYE! Group to present the world premiere of I’m Not Even Half, created and performed by Layla Khoshnoudi (7 Minutes, Men On Boats), and directed by Machel Ross (A Song of Songs, Black Exhibition).

Glued to her phone, watching a violent uprising unfold in Iran, S gets hit by a car while crossing the street in Brooklyn. She may have a concussion but the driver is cute. Darkly funny, and deeply relatable, I’m Not Even Half takes us on an odyssey of pick-me antics and self-discovery, where physical impact interrupts psychic patterns, forcing S to confront: what is worthy of faith and what is worthy of being gut-punched to hell?

“After years of working as an actor in New York, my own writing began to spring forth, born from a strong desire to express more expansively in the theater, where shared experience could lead to impactful change. I'm Not Even Half was the first play to emerge from this wave, its driving impulse being to juxtapose two countries at ideological war, decaying under patriarchy for very different reasons, filtered through relatable eyes of a floundering, self-centered artist. Using humor as a sharp edge to slice through biases and preconceived notions, the play attempts to process the impact of abstract destructions through the ones we may be more intimately familiar with.” - Layla Khoshnoudi

Development of I’m Not Even Half has been supported in part through a residency at The Theater Department at Skidmore College, with support from the Marty Sue Endowment and the Miranda Family Scholarship.

From the Artistic Directors:

“We couldn’t be more thrilled to be premiering this new work by Layla Khoshnoudi in association with our great friends at ¡OYE! Group. I’ve been a big fan of Layla as a performer for years, so getting the opportunity to introduce her as a playwright is a real privilege. Layla is a singular performer, possessing tremendous emotional depth as well as pitch perfect comedic timing. As a playwright, she has constructed I'm Not Even Half as a rollercoaster ride into one woman’s psyche that slyly leaves you questioning how you yourself live in the world.  

While she barrels through issues such as the women-led Iranian uprising of 2022 (and the ensuing brutal crackdown by the Iranian government), rampant misogyny in the US, and nagging questions of personal identity and responsibility she keeps us laughing (sometimes uneasily) until we find ourselves grappling with some pretty thorny issues concerning how we ourselves live. It’s a balancing act that only a dynamic performer like Layla can pull off and it’s a gift to get to experience it. Laughter is a gift. And being made to think critically is a gift. In this extremely funny and thought provoking work, Layla gives us both.”   - Noel Allain, Founding Artistic Director of The Bushwick Starr

“Layla Khoshnoudi is a comedic genius. The way she weaves together hard topics we all need to be addressing in I'm Not Even Half, both political and personal, is pure magic. She makes us think about our humanity and why we are not asking each other all the hard questions we know we are thinking about constantly. We at ¡OYE! Group are overjoyed to be associate producing this solo show directed by the brilliant Machel Ross.”  - Modesto Flako Jimenez, Artistic Director of ¡OYE! Group