Thanks to your support, in 2023 we engaged over 90 artists and 4,500 audience members in more than 50 unforgettable performances that brought us joy and laughter, united us through collaboration and connection, and inspired us with stories of fighting injustice.

Cultivating Meaningful Collaborations

We engaged two Artists in Residence whose vibrant energy supercharged our 2023 Season: Iraqi-born performance artist Wafaa Bilal known internationally for his performative and interactive works, and local Palestinian-American multidisciplinary artist and theatre maker Amal Bisharat.

Our digital series No Summary: Conversations with Artists Who Don’t Fit in a Box welcomed new audiences through collaborations with universities across the nation, including the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, California Polytechnic State University, and the University of Washington, as well as at the Association for Theatre in Higher Education’s annual conference.

Embracing Artistic Complexity, Building Community

The ReOrient Festival of Short Plays finally returned with six unexpected and boundary-pushing short plays selected from 113 submissions. These plays dazzled audiences for over 15 stellar performances with a variety of monologues, two-handers, absurdist styles, historical and modern stories, and queer and non-binary narratives.

In conjunction with the ReOrient Festival, Golden Thread proudly co-produced the 4th annual MENA Theatre Makers Alliance Convening with Art2Action, Inc., and with co-sponsorship by Silk Road Rising, Noor Theatre, New Arab American Theatre Works, Diaspora Arts Connection, and Theatre Communications Group THRIVE! Program. With more than 130 participants attending 11 in-person and online events, the convening was an artistic and community-building triumph!

Healing with Humor, Learning Through Laughter

Comedians Eman El-Husseini, Usama Siddiquee, Jackie Keliiaa, and Charles McBee gave us the balm of laughter in Artist in-residence Wafaa Bilal’s specially curated stand-up comedy presentation of Amreeka: The Comedy Show.

There was no stopping Nasrudin’s Magnificent Journey to Samarkand, written by Torange Yeghiazarian and directed by Sarah Al-Kassab, which continued to 25 new schools and libraries across the Bay Area, delighting and educating audiences of all ages with comedic tales of this beloved wise fool.

Championing Revolutionaries

Our annual celebration of International Women’s Day, What Do the Women Say?, was a truly international in-person/virtual hybrid presentation that featured the work of 15 incredible Middle Eastern women artists from Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Palestine, Egypt and the U.S. who fight against injustice through their art.

This year, The New Threads Reading Series explored and uplifted the stories of ordinary individuals living through revolutionary times through two new play commissions: Adam Ashraf Elsayigh’s Alaa: a Family Trilogy, inspired by the life of political prisoner Alaa Abd El-Fattah, and Tariq Hamami’s The Fox and the Panther, about the Black Panthers in Algiers.

2024 Season for Palestine

Since its inception, Golden Thread has been dedicated to challenging negative stereotypes and misinformed narratives about the Middle East and highlighting our shared humanity. That mission has taken on even greater urgency today.

We recognize the continuing significance of our work as we witness the Western media blatantly dehumanize and silence Palestinian voices enduring the atrocities of war. In response, we are taking action by dedicating our entire 2024 season to Palestine.

Please consider making a contribution today and join us for our 2024 Season for Palestine!