Asolo Rep Welcomes Adam Ashraf Elsayigh as Literary Manager and Dramaturg

Asolo Repertory Theatre is welcoming Adam Ashraf Elsayigh as its new Literary Manager and Dramaturg. Elsayigh serves as a key member of Asolo Rep's artistic team, closely collaborating with Producing Artistic Director Michael Donald Edwards, participating in season show selection and curating public programming.

As literary manager and dramaturg, Elsayigh manages and executes all dramaturgical and literary functions for the theatre, including shepherding new play development efforts, providing dramaturgical research for productions, creating program content, networking with literary agents, cultivating playwrights, and acquiring and evaluating new scripts.

"I'm delighted that Adam has joined our team," Edwards said. "His unique personal story, combined with an outstanding education and an intense curiosity for new voices in the American theatre, makes him an exciting addition to Asolo Rep. His passion for the process of creating and developing impactful theatre is evident in everything he does. His dramaturgical work will enhance the theatrical experience for our artists and audience members, offering a deeper exploration of the creators, themes and issues that are represented on the stage."

An Egyptian writer and theatre maker, Elsayigh writes scripts for theatre and television that interrogate the intersections of queerness, immigration and colonialism from his lens as a queer, Arab immigrant. He seeks to tell and amplify stories from communities that have been historically under and misrepresented on American stages and television screens.

"As a dramaturg, I aim to carve transformative spaces for playwrights that allow them to produce their best and most vulnerable work," Elsayigh said. "I'm particularly excited to be working with artists from communities that have been historically underrepresented in the American theatre. I'm deeply excited to embark on being a part of Asolo Rep's artistic team and to be a part of this institution's artistic growth. I hope that my tenure here supports the institution as it continues to become a more accessible and inclusive incubator for emerging artists and new work within the American theatre."

Elsayigh's plays, including Memorial, Jamestown/ Williamsburg, Revelation and Drowning in Cairo, have been developed and seen at The Lark Theater, NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, LaGuardia Performing Arts Center and Golden Thread Productions. He is a co-founder of The Criminal Queerness Festival with National Queer Theater and a fellow at Georgetown University's Laboratory for Global Performance. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater with an emphasis in Playwriting and Dramaturgy from NYU Abu Dhabi and is a Master of Fine Arts candidate in Playwriting at Brooklyn College.

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