LaGuardia Performing Arts Center Will Present Workshop Production Of The New Verbatim Play, MEMORIAL

This October, LaGuardia Performing Arts Center is presenting a workshop production of the new verbatim play Memorial from October 27 - October 29, 2021 at The LaGuardia Performing Arts Center's MainStage Black Box, 31-10 Thomson Ave, Long Island City, NYC. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased online here. For press and industry comps, please reach out to the production team here.

Conceived by Arianna Gayle Stucki, and co-written by Stucki and playwright Adam Ashraf Elsayigh, Memorial is a verbatim play that tells the story of the Christchurch Muslim community during and following the two mosque shootings that occurred on March 15th in Christchurch, New Zealand. The play chronicles the impact of the shootings, and systems of violence, through the words and experiences of seven citizens of Christchurch, focusing on the friends and families of those who were lost in the attacks. Memorial tells the story through the interviewee's own words intersecting with moments of found sound, ritual, and projection.

Stucki's impulse for conceiving this play was to "create a space of remembrance... to remember those lost to the tragedy, as well as ask those who witness it to remember why this tragedy took place. It is essential because the community of Christchurch has united through love in a moment of deep loss, and this play captures how they managed to do so."

This presentation, produced by LPAC and the Elsayigh-Stucki duo, will be directed by the innovative Chilean director and multi-hyphenate Attilio Rigotti. The cast of Memorial includes Aya Aziz, Brian Dykstra*, Ahmed Elhosary, Levin Valayil*, Anton Obeid*, Kim Savarino*, and Rasha Zamamiri*. The production's design team will include Leslie Gray, Gaya Maria Chatterjee, Dina Abd El-Aziz, and Orsolya Szantho. Karishma Bhagani will be serving as the Consulting Producer. Paul Andrews is the Production Stage Manager. Memorial is being presented under the AEA Showcase Code.

LaGuardia Performing Arts Center has celebrated the development of exciting, new work from fresh voices in the theatre community, providing innovative and boundary-pushing artists with space and resources to develop their works-in-progress.

Memorial was partially developed by the Rough Draft Festival at LPAC, The Juilliard School, and Noor Theater's Highlight Reading Series. Memorial's workshop production at LPAC is additionally supported by NYFA and DCLA's City Artist Corps Grants, Lower Manhattan Cultural Center's Creative Engagement program, and Georgetown University's Laboratory For Global Performance & Politics.

(*) Cast members named above designated by an asterisk are appearing courtesy of Actors' Equity Association.