George Abud's THE RUINS: A PLAY THROUGH MUSIC World Premiere is Coming to Guthrie Theater
The show begins previews on Friday, September 19, opens on Sunday, September 21 and will play through Sunday, October 12.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Sep. 04, 2025
The Guthrie Theater has revealed the cast and creative team for The Ruins: a play through music by George Abud, directed by Tony Award-winning producer and artist Osh Ashruf. The show begins previews on Friday, September 19, opens on Sunday, September 21 and will play through Sunday, October 12 in the Dowling Studio. Single and group tickets are now on sale exclusively through the Box Office or online at guthrietheater.org. Accessibility services (ASL-interpreted, audio-described and open-captioned performances) are also available on select dates.
Artistic Director Joseph Haj said, “We’re thrilled to present the world premiere of George Abud’s moving new play The Ruins in the Dowling Studio. The studio is the perfect setting for exploring big questions together, and The Ruins does just that, wrestling with themes of mortality, meaning and connection in a way that feels both timely and timeless.” Haj continued, “Former Guthrie Artistic Director Liviu Ciulei once said that a community can be measured by the questions its theater asks. The Ruins asks profound questions about life and purpose, making it a powerful invitation for audiences to engage in meaningful dialogue at the Guthrie this fall.”
Director Osh Ashruf stated, “It is a dream to direct the world premiere of George Abud’s exquisite play The Ruins at the Guthrie. To present this work in the Dowling Studio feels symbolic and healing. Gazing through the Guthrie’s Amber Box out over the tree-lined Mississippi River, I am filled with wonder. The play mirrors the river’s current — fragile, beautiful, elusive — inviting us to pause (and, dare I say, laugh) while considering what really matters in this brief life.”
The cast of The Ruins: a play through music includes George Abud (Guthrie: debut) and Sydney Shepherd (Guthrie: debut).
The creative team includes George Abud (Playwright), Osh Ashruf (Director), You-Shin Chen (Scenic Designer), Abbie Kenyon (Costume Designer), Mextly Couzin (Lighting Designer), Peter Morrow (Sound Designer), Keely Wolter (Resident Vocal Coach), Jason Clusman (Stage Manager) and Caitlin Nasema Cassidy (Assistant Director).
In The Ruins, two master musicians meet in an empty space armed with only a cello, an oud and some old books of poetry. The strangers trade jabs and musical virtuosity until they’re stunned to learn that in a few days, they’ll both be dead. Faced with their untimely end, they become obsessed with a question: Were their lives enough? Over the course of eight movements of blistering music and tender verse, they struggle to find an answer before time runs out.
The Ruins marks George Abud’s professional playwriting debut. Written in 2020, the play was further developed in collaboration with Osh Ashruf through a workshop at El Barrio’s Artspace PS109 (Rolinda Ramos, Director of Operations and Programming) in New York City and a residency at New York Stage and Film (Christopher Burney, Artistic Director), both in 2022. Inspired by Abud’s pandemic-era reflections on life and death, it is structured around emotional sections in the iconic Arabic song “Al Atlal,” famously performed by Egyptian artist Umm Kulthum. Music becomes a vital language in the play — he plays the oud, she plays the cello — and each instrument echoes the characters’ emotional journeys. “I’ve always been fascinated by death,” said Abud. “I started writing this play during COVID-19, asking myself: Can you die tomorrow and still prove you lived a full life?”
Videos