New Arab American Theater Works To Host Midwestern Festival Of SWANA Plays

New Arab American Theater Works will host the first Midwestern Festival of New Middle Eastern or SWANA (Southwest Asian and North African) Plays. The festival will take place June 6–7, 2026, at Open Book Performance Hall in Minneapolis and will feature six new plays by Midwestern SWANA playwrights.

The festival is the culmination of the organization’s Midwestern SWANA Playwright Incubator Program, which selected a cohort of playwrights through a national application process and supported them through a series of development workshops. The public readings will be followed by audience talkbacks.

“As Midwesterners and people of SWANA descent, we are doubly passed over,” said Artistic and Executive Director Kathryn Haddad. “This program is an attempt to give a platform for our voices to be heard through the works of these new plays and playwrights and to contribute to the literary landscape.”

The festival will include works by Alexander Attea, Kayla Karnesky, Zeyy Fawaz, Zainab Hussein, Novid Parsi, and Sana Wazwaz, directed by Sherrine Azab.

JUNE 6 SCHEDULE

HOMEBODIES

By Zainab Hussein
1:00 p.m.

PAINTING IN PUBLIC

By Novid Parsi
4:00 p.m.

BIRTHRIGHT PALESTINE

By Sana Wazwaz
7:00 p.m.

JUNE 7 SCHEDULE

HOW TO LOSE A PRINCE IN 10 PAINTINGS

By Kayla Karnesky
1:00 p.m.

GOING FOR A WALK WITH THE BOYS

By Alexander Attea
4:00 p.m.

THE TENANTS

By Zeyy Fawaz
7:00 p.m.

CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM

The festival will feature performances by Bruce Abas, Noor Adwan, Zeyy Fawaz, Leor Benjamin, Hanen Bouchrit, Wasima Farah, Joey Haddad, Christine Harb, Nader Helmy, Taous Khazem, Tony Larkin, Alexander Attea, Ifrah Mansour, Kayla Karnesky, Michael Quadrozzi, Bahdoon Ahmad, Amir Shereef, Shavunda Brown, and Aamera Siddiqui.

Gianna Haseman will serve as stage manager, with discussions moderated by Layla Assamarai, Joe Farag, Christine Harb, Michelle Baroody, William Nour, and Fouzi Slisli.

TICKET INFORMATION