New Threads Staged Reading Series 2022
Golden Thread Productions, the first American theatre company devoted to the Middle East, returns with New Threads 2022, its popular and free staged reading series. The four staged readings will take place Tuesdays, August 9, 16, 23 and 30 in a tour of three different San Francisco theatre venues. All readings are at 7pm and FREE. Seating is limited, therefore registration is highly recommended.
August 9, 2022 - August 30, 2022
Potrero Stage, Z Below, Brava Theater
Readings are FREE, however registration is recommended as space is limited.
New Threads is Golden Thread’s annual staged reading series that engages its audience in the process of playmaking and allows writers of Middle Eastern and non-Middle Eastern descent an authentic and supportive space to develop work about the Middle East. Since its launch in 2011, many New Threads plays and playwrights have continued on to receive mainstage productions. Each reading is accompanied by talkbacks with the artists and other experts that explore the themes of the play which enable you to experience the creative process.
COVID Health & Safety
Golden Thread is a fully vaccinated company. All patrons must present proof of vaccination with a booster shot, along with a matching photo ID, and be masked for entry to all in-person events.
Per CDC guidance, we encourage the use of procedural masks (either alone or with a cloth mask on top) or a higher grade N95 or KN95 mask instead of cloth masks alone. Masks must be worn at all times in all areas of the theatre.
Seating will be general admission and limited to 75% capacity. Advanced purchase or registration is advised.
By registering for an in-person event, you agree to adhere to our COVID-19 health and safety protocols. For more health and safety information, click here.
New Threads 2022 Lineup
Tuesday, August 9, at 7pm
A THOUSAND STRANGE PLACES: ANTHONY SHADID AND THE MIDDLE EAST
by Robert Myers
directed by Sahar Assaf
Potrero Stage - 1695 18th St., San Francisco, CA 94107
Pulitzer Prize-winning, Lebanese-American journalist Anthony Shadid is wounded in Palestine, awaits the American invasion of Iraq in Baghdad, covers the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 2006, the fall of Mubarak in Tahrir Square, and is kidnapped in Libya while reporting on the civil war there. He re-defined the role of a reporter and was one of the only correspondents who covered the lives of people from the Arab world from every walk of life.
→ Register for A THOUSAND STRANGE PLACES: ANTHONY SHADID AND THE MIDDLE EAST
Tuesday, August 16, at 7pm
WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU’RE SIMULATING EXPECTING
by Nabra Nelson
directed by Susannah Martin
Brava Theater Studio- 2781 24th St., San Francisco, CA 94110
In the year 2080, the new normal involves taboos on pregnancy, car ownership, red meat, and suburban homes. It involves travel restrictions, a mixed-race majority, ongoing climate disasters, and constant uncertainty. But other than that, everything is the old normal. Except for Hoda’s experimental pregnancy. As Hoda gets ever-closer to her dream life, things don’t seem to be going as planned. An intense yet comedic experience, this near-futuristic play simulates the unexpected.
→ Register for WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU’RE SIMULATING EXPECTING
Tuesday, August 23, at 7pm
PILGRIMAGE
by Humaira Ghilzai and Bridgette Dutta Portman
directed by Aidaa Peerzada
Z Below - 470 Florida St., San Francisco, CA 94110
Five Muslim American women embark on a pilgrimage to Mecca. Noor is an Afghan American immigrant with a secret. Her tech CEO daughter Maryam is struggling with legal woes, while Noor’s nieces, the estranged sisters Sosan and Nadia, work to mend their fractured relationship. Meanwhile, Fatima, a Black Muslim convert, hopes to find her biological mother. Will the journey bring them together, or will secrets, rivalries, and old wounds tear them apart?
Tuesday, August 30, at 7pm
HOME?
by Hend Ayoub
directed by Carey Perloff
Z Below - 470 Florida St., San Francisco, CA 94110
Presented in collaboration with Z Space and San Francisco Playhouse.
In Israel, she’s a Palestinian. In the Arab world, she’s an Israeli. In America, she’s an Other. Home? If only she can find it. Through a panoply of vivid characters—from a five-year-old who just wants to join the neighborhood’s Purim party to a casting director in Egypt who can’t forget where she comes from, to her dying mother who longs for her to find a place in the world—Hend shares a deeply personal and true story about her search for the place that many of us take for granted: Home.