Casting Announced For HOSTAGES By Yussef El Guindi

Radial Theater Project and 18th & Union are pleased to announce casting for an upcoming production of Hostages, a play by Seattle-based playwright Yussef El Guindi.

Two college professors have left their homeland for a war zone. They are there on a mission of peace, but peace is hard to find when you're chained to a radiator. Hostages explores how human beings cope when they're deprived of personal contact and torn from the pleasantries of everyday life.

Hostages, produced by Radial Theater Project and directed by David Gassner, will be presented at 18th & Union, an arts and community space in Seattle's Central District, October 19 - November 3, 2018. The 3-person cast includes Seattle actors Nik Doner, Sam Hagen, and Yusef Mahmoud.

Tickets for Hostages will go on sale in September.

Yussef El Guindi's recent productions include The Talented Ones at Artists Repertory Theatre in Portland (Santa Barbara Independent Indy Award); Our Enemies: Lively Scenes of Love and Combat at Golden Thread Productions (American Theatre Critics Association's M. Elizabeth Osborn Award); and Threesome at Portland Center Stage, ACT, and at 59E59 (Portland Drammy for Best Original Script). Yussef is the recipient of the 2010 Middle East America Distinguished Playwright Award and The Stranger's 2015 Genius Award, and is an ACT Theatre 2018 Core Company member.

David Gassner is Producing Director of both Radial Theater Project and 18th & Union, and was formerly Artistic Director of Theater Schmeater. Recent directing projects include The Comedy of Errors (Greenstage), Jake's Women (Mt. Baker Summer Rep), HAIR (ArtsWest), We Are Proud to Present... and Or, the Whale (both with Pony World Theatre). He performed the role of the Hypnotist in Radial Theater Project's production of Tim Couch's An Oak Tree at 18th & Union and at the Seattle Fringe Festival.

Nik Doner is a Seattle native actor, producer, and voiceover artist with a B.A. from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Head of the Video Department of a local online educational company, recent theatrical appearances include Greensward (MAP Theatre), In Arabia We'd All Be Kings (Theater Schmeater), Dirty (Washington Ensemble Theatre), and We Are Proud to Present... (Pony World Theatre). Last year saw the world premiere of two separate runs of his highly praised autobiographical solo show Cuddling with Strippers.

Sam Hagen moved to Seattle in 2005. He has enjoyed working in many great Seattle theaters on many great shows; including The Flick (New Century Theater), Nine Circles (Strawberry Theater Workshop), and Cymbeline (Greenstage).

Yusef Mahmoud is a Seattle native who's been involved in numerous productions around town, including Sahmatah (New Image Theatre), The Last Days Of Judas Iscariot (Sound Theatre Company), Secret Son (Book-It Repertory Theatre), and Peter and the Starcatcher (Cornish College of the Arts).