Macha Theatre Works Presents The PNW Premiere Of VEILS By Tom Coash

Veils is a two-woman show featuring actors Fathiya Ritter and Alaji. The design team includes Parmida Ziaei (set/props designer), Sadiqua Iman (costume designer), Johanna Melamed (sound designer), Suzi Tucker (projection designer), Zanna King (lighting designer), Mike Stephens (tech supervisor), and Madison Silva (stage manager).

About the play: Intisar, a veiled African-American Muslim student, thinks she might finally fit in when she enrolls for a year abroad at the American Egyptian University in Cairo. Samar, her non-veiled Egyptian Muslim roommate, enlists Intisar's help in creating an internet blog about the practice of wearing veils (or not), in hopes of challenging Western assumptions about Muslim culture and bridging the gap between the West and the Middle East. As Egypt hurtles toward revolution, Intisar and Samar are surprised to find themselves on opposite sides of a bitter cultural divide. Will the violent events and emotions leading up to the revolution salvage their friendship or shatter it?

Veils will run November 30-December 16, 2018 at West of Lenin (203 N. 36th Street) in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood.

VEILS by Tom Coash Directed by Lia Sima Fakhouri Produced by Macha Theatre Works

Performance Dates: Nov. 30th - Dec. 16th, 2018

Time (all shows): 8:00 pm, Dec. 16th closing matinee at 2:00 pm

PWYC: Wednesday, Nov. 28; Industry: Monday, Dec. 10

Location: West of Lenin

203 N 36th St, Seattle, WA

Tickets: $15 - $25

Contact information:

www.machatheatreworks.com

tickets@machatheatreworks.com

Phone: 608.909.1252

Tom Coash - A New Haven, Ct. USA playwright, director, and dramaturge he spent three years in Bermuda and four years teaching playwriting at The American University in Cairo, Egypt. Coash was a Co-founder of the Offstage Theatre in Charlottesville, VA and has worked for such theatres as the Manhattan Theatre Club and Actors Theatre of Louisville. Coash has won numerous playwriting awards including Ensemble Studio Theatre's Hammerstein Award, The Kennedy Center's Lorraine Hansberry Award, and a Jerome Playwriting Fellowship. His work has been produced nationally: Portland Stage, InterAct Theatre, Abingdon Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Bailiwick Theatre, West Coast Ensemble, and many more. His play CRY HAVOC was recently produced in the South African National Arts Festival and had a second production at the University of Johannesburg where he was an artist-in-residence. His new play VEILS was named winner of the American Theatre Critics Association's 2015 "M. Elizabeth Osborn Award" for Best New Play by an Emerging Playwright. VEILS has also won the Clauder Competition at Portland Stage (Maine), was a recipient of the Edgerton Foundation National New Play Award, and was one of six Finalists for the American Theatre Critics Association's ATCA/Steinberg New Play Award.

About the Director

Lia Fakhouri is a recent Seattle transplant who hails from Dubai UAE. She is excited to be sharing this story about women in the Middle East and what it means to wear a Veil. In the past year, she has held the position of Artistic Casting Intern and Assistant Director at Seattle Repertory Theatre. Her credits include; Dry Powder, Here Lies Love, Well, Roz & Ray, and Vietgone. Lia most recently won Battle of the Bards at Ghost Light Theatricals and will be directing their spring show The Salem Witch org*sms by Ali Davis. Lia has a BA in Theatre and graduated with Honors in Directing from UC, Irvine.

About Macha Theatre Works

Envisioning a world where fearless female voices thrive, Macha Theatre Works is a small, dynamic Seattle-based theatre company that produces exceptional new works featuring strong female characters. We are a nonprofit arts organization that strives to bring complex, provocative, empowering, innovative, eclectic, and diverse women's stories to the stage through professional productions, a new play reading series, and educational offerings. The company was founded in 2001 by Kristina Sutherland Rowell and Desiree Prewitt. In 2017, Macha transitioned the company under the leadership of Artistic Director Amy Poisson (director of Smoke & Dust, Happy, Happy, Happy..., The Clockwork Professor, The Tumbleweed Zephyr, A Hand of Talons, Blood/Water/Paint) and Managing Director Kyna Shilling (Melissa Hines Award for Outstanding Theatre Practitioner, 2016 Gregory Awards). Macha most recently produced the World Premiere of Smoke & Dust by local playwright Joy McCullough-Carranza at Theatre Off Jackson and the World Premiere of Happy, Happy, Happy... by Jenn Ruzumna and Lisa Every at the Erickson Theatre.

For more information on Macha Theatre Works, please visit www.machatheatreworks.com. You can reach us by phone at (608) 909-1252 or by e-mail at machapublicist@gmail.com.

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