Golden Thread’s 2025 Season aims to illuminate the interconnectedness of our struggles amplifying Palestinian, Armenian, and Afghan stories. It is our duty — both as artists and as global citizens — to learn from our histories, to tell our stories, and to pass our narratives on to future generations. Through a diverse collection of personal and historical narratives, this season, we honor the strength of those who have endured, who are still fighting, and the voices that refuse to be silenced. Featuring bold world-premiere works by women-identifying artists and fostering both local and national collaborations, this season invites you to join us in community and solidarity.
Productions
New Threads Staged Reading Series 2025
Featuring a workshop production of Artist-in-Residence Evren Odcikin’s timely comedy, Oriental, or 1001 Ways to Tie Yourself in Knots
Pilgrimage
by Humaira Ghilzai and Bridgette Dutta Portman
Five women embark on a pilgrimage to Mecca. Noor, an Afghan American immigrant, must fulfill her sister’s last wish. Her daughter, Maryam, a tech CEO, seeks to evade her legal woes, while Noor’s nieces—estranged sisters Sosan and Nadia—must complete the pilgrimage to claim their inheritance. Meanwhile, Fatima, a Black Muslim convert and Nadia’s best friend, hopes to find her biological mother. Will this pilgrimage bring the five women closer, or will secrets, rivalries, and old wounds tear them apart?
The Return
by Hannah Eady and Edward Mast
Two people meeting in an auto-body shop in the mid-sized city Herzliya. They might or might not have known each other in the past. One of them is Palestinian, one of them is Israeli Jewish, and by the end of the play, both of their lives will be changed forever by the realities that surround them.
AZAD (the rabbit and the wolf)
by Sona Tatoyan in collaboration with Jared Mezzocchi
Burdened by a divorce, Osman Kavala’s imprisonment in Turkey, and the ghosts of her past, Sona Tatoyan sets off to create a TV series exploring the Armenian Genocide and Syrian war. Everything changes when she unearths a trunk in her family’s war-torn Aleppo home: Karagöz puppets built by her great-great grandfather! In a quantum entanglement that spans a century, could this be the story she’s been missing: a multigenerational healing journey?
What Do the Women Say? 2025
March 8, 2025
What Do the Women Say? celebrates International Women’s Day on March 8, 2025, with a guided meditation and Q&A session led by Ashira Darwish, a Palestinian journalist, therapist, and activist featured in the powerful film Where Olive Trees Weep.