A DISTINCT SOCIETY
Written & DIrected By Kareem Fahmy
Wednesday, July 16 at 3:00 pm
Open Jar Studios
1601 Broadway, 11th floor
(entrance on 48th street between B'way and 8th Avenue)
The reading is free, but make reservations by clicking the button:
The Haskell Free Library in Derby Line straddles the border of Vermont and Quebec and life is about to change amidst the tranquil hush of its cozy bookshelves. When an Iranian father and his daughter, separated by the international border, start using the library as a meeting place, the denizens of this quiet sanctuary find their lives suddenly full of excitement and consequence. Inspired by real events, A DISTINCT SOCIETY is a touching and funny new play about the many things – family, food, art, love, and politics – that can divide and unite us.
Cast:
Barzin Akhavan*
Jason Bowen*
Daniel Clark*
Polly Lee*
Nikki Massoud*
*Equity Member appearing with permission of Actors’ Equity Association without benefit of an Equity contract in this Off-Off Broadway production.
Kareem Fahmy is a NYC-based playwright and director from Sherbrooke, Quebec. Along with A Distinct Society, his plays American Fast (winner of the Woodward/Newman Award) and Dodi & Diana have been produced nationwide. Other plays include Riparian States, Fountains of Youth, Pareidolia, The In-Between, and an adaptation of the acclaimed novel The Yacoubian Building. Commissions: Audible, Artists Repertory Theatre, Colt Coeur, Ensemble Studio Theatre/Sloan Foundation, inaugural recipient of The Next Forever Commission from The Civilians and Princeton University. Fellowships Yaddo, MacDowell, Sundance, Bogliasco Center. Selected directing credits: Cincinnati Playhouse, Writers Theatre, Pioneer Theatre, Contemporary American Theatre Festival, Portland Stage, Crossroads Theatre. MFA - Directing, Columbia University.www.kareemfahmy.com
Barzin Akhavan Broadway: Network, The Kite Runner. Off Broadway: Macbeth (CSC), Fuente Ovejuna (TFANA), Hamlet (Waterwell), Richard II (WNYC/Public). Regional: The Old Globe, Seattle Rep, Arena Stage, Guthrie, ACT SF, Berkeley Rep, Huntington, Lookingglass, Folger, Merrimack Rep, Cincinnati Playhouse, Center Stage, CATF, San Jose Rep, Marin Theatre, Arizona Theatre, Pioneer Theatre, Colorado Shakes, four seasons with Lake Tahoe Shakes, five seasons with Oregon Shakespeare Festival, where his solo show Behfarmaheen (If You Please) will make him the first Iranian American playwright to have a play performed there. Film: Ezra, Funny Face, The Jew of Malta, Joyful. Television: “Law & Order: CI,” “Smash,” “The Blacklist,” “Girls5eva,” “Chicago Med.” Education: M.F.A. from University of Washington’s PATP
Jason Bowen’s previous credits include Broadway: The Play That Goes Wrong. Off-Broadway: Goddess (The Public Theater), Half-God of Rainfall (NYTW/A.R.T.), Crumbs From The Table Of Joy (Keen Company), Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Audible Theater), Native Son (The Acting Co.), If Pretty Hurts (Playwrights Horizons). TV/Film: “Law & Order: SVU", “Chicago P.D.” (NBC), “Blue Bloods”, "Madam Secretary", "Elementary” (CBS), “The Good Fight“ (Paramount Plus), Mother/Android, The Upside, What's Your Number?
Daniel Clark is an actor based in New York City and an alum of Mason Gross School of the Arts. He co-originated the role of Declan Sheehan in the Co-World Premiere of A Distinct Society at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. Daniel has worked with a variety of theatres and festivals across the country including The Gulfshore Playhouse, Rehearsal for Truth, The Tent Theater, and Playwright's Horizons. Most recently, he starred in the Denver Center for the Performing Arts production of I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter.
Polly Lee is thrilled to be working on A Distinct Society again. Regional Theatre: McCarter Theatre, Wilma Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, La Jolla Playhouse, ART, Yale Rep, Rep Theatre of St Louis, etc. NY Theatre: New Georges, Clubbed Thumb, Lincoln Center, EST, The New Group, etc. TV/Film: “Succession”, “Law & Order”, “L&O: SVU”, “L&O: Organized Crime”, “The Americans” (3 seasons), “Younger” (2 seasons), “The Looming Tower”, “The Blacklist”, “Chicago Med”, “Gotham”, “Things Heard and Seen”, and “Give or Take”. Polly is an award-winning audiobook narrator on over 200 titles. She’s a proud member of the Actors Studio, SAG-AFTRA and AEA.
Nikki Massoud is an Iranian-Canadian-American performer and writer. Her television credits include roles on Succession (HBO), Life & Beth (Hulu), Love Life (HBO Max), and Mozart in the Jungle (Amazon). Her notable theater performances include roles at Playwrights Horizons, New York Theater Workshop, the Goodman Theater, the Guthrie Theater, Berkeley Rep, and The Old Globe. Nikki is also the Audie Award-winning narrator of over 80 audiobooks, currently available on Audible. As a writer, she is a current Roundabout Underground Resident Playwright and a recent 2050 Artistic Fellow at New York Theater Workshop. She is a commissioned playwright with Noor Theater, Atlantic Theater Company, and The Acting Company. Education: Brown University/Trinity Rep MFA, Georgetown University and BADA. “Zan, Zendegi, Azadi.”