American Theater Company Adds DISGRACED to 2011-12 Season

American Theater Company (ATC) announced today an addition to the 2011-12 Season: the World Premiere of Disgraced by Ayad Akhtar, featuring ensemble member Usman Ally. Disgraced is produced by special arrangement with The Araca Group (Broadway's Urinetown, A View From The Bridge and co-producers of Wicked).

Disgraced will replace the previously announced K2 and will run February 3, 2012-March 4. The production will open February 6, 2012.

New York. Today. A Muslim-American lawyer is rapidly moving up the corporate ladder while he distances himself from his cultural roots.

At the moment of achieving his life-long ambitions, he falls victim to professional and personal betrayals that manifest in one of the most explosive and controversial scenes ever written for the theater.

American Theater Company teams up with the Broadway producers of Urinetown and last season's A View From the Bridge to premiere Ayad Akhtar's examination of a modern Muslim-American struggling to define his identity.

"As the country reflects on the aftermath of 9/11 on the 10th anniversary, Disgraced allows our audience a personal yet politically-charged journey that many Muslims living in America face. Ayad Akhtar doesn't only hit the nail on the head, he smashes the hammer, allowing us into a complex struggle that humbles and frustrates," comments PJ Paparelli. "ATC is honored to be working with one of NY's leading producing organizations for the theatre. The Araca Group's passion and commitment to this material is inspiring. We are thrilled to be birthing this important American play together here in Chicago."

"We are thrilled to be working at ATC and to have the opportunity to shape Ayad's work in a city like Chicago:--a community dedicated to new play development and continually supportive of its artists," says Amanda Watkins, EVP, Production and Development, The Araca Group.

In recent years, ATC's world premieres have had subsequent productions at The Old Globe with Welcome to Arroyo's by Kristoffer Diaz; and Playwrights Horizons with The Big Meal by Dan LeFranc. Greg Kotis and Mark Hollman's (Urinetwon), Yeast Nation recently opened at The New York Fringe Festival.

Ayad Akhtar is the writer of American Dervish, which will be released. He starred in and directed in the terrorism drama The War Within, released in 2005.

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