Amir has left his Pakistani heritage behind in an attempt to make partner at his corporate law firm, but his wife Emily doesn't share his negative feelings about Islam-she's encouraged Amir to help with the case of a controversial imam. When they throw a dinner party for Amir's colleague Jory and her husband Isaac, the hard truths revealed lead to the unraveling of their carefully constructed lives. Winner of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
An L.A. Theatre Works full-cast production starring:
Geoffrey Arend as Isaac
Behzad Dabu as Abe
Hari Dhillon as Amir
Sameerah Luqmaan-Harris as Jory
Emily Swallow as Emily
Directed by Brian Kite. Recorded live at UCLA's James Bridges Theater in April 2018.
*Coming to Broadway this fall in the Lincoln Center Theater production starring Steven Pasquale* From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Disgraced, a fast-paced economic thriller that exposes the financial deal making behind the mergers and acquisitions boom of the 1980s. Set in 1985, Junk tells the story of Robert Merkin, resident genius of the upstart investment firm Sacker Lowell. Hailed as "America's Alchemist," his proclamation that "debt is an asset" has propelled him to a dizzying level of success. By orchestrating the takeover of a massive steel manufacturer, Merkin intends to do the "deal of the decade," the one that will rewrite all the rules. Working on his broadest canvas to date, Pulitzer Prize winner Ayad Akhtar chronicles the lives of men and women engaged in financial civil war: insatiable investors, threatened workers, killer lawyers, skeptical journalists, and ambitious federal prosecutors. Although it's set 40 years in the past, this is a play about the world we live in right now; a world in which money became the only thing of real value.
A chilling examination of how far we will go to survive and the consequences of the choices we make.
In remote Pakistan, Nick Bright awaits his fate. A successful financial trader, Nick is kidnapped by an Islamic militant group, but with no one negotiating his release, he agrees to an unusual plan. He will earn his own ransom by helping his captors manipulate and master the world commodities and currency markets.
"[A] tense, provocative thriller about the unholy nexus of international terrorism and big bucks...." (Seattle Times). "Ahktar again turns hypersensitive subjects into thought-provoking and thoughtful drama" (Newsday). "The prime theme is pulsing and alive: when human lives become just one more commodity to be traded, blood eventually flows in the streets" (Financial Times). "Whip-smart and twisty" (Time Out New York), "The Invisible Hand offers genuine insight into the future of the West" (Village Voice).
"Sparkling and combustible" (Bloomberg Businessweek), "DISGRACED rubs all kinds of unexpected raw spots with intelligence and humor" (Newsday). "In dialogue that bristles with wit and intelligence, Akhtar puts contemporary attitudes toward religion under a microscope, revealing how tenuous self-image can be for people born into one way of being who have embraced another.... Everyone has been told that politics and religion are two subjects that should be off-limits at social gatherings. But watching these characters rip into these forbidden topics, there's no arguing that they make for ear-tickling good theater" (New York Times). "Add a liberal flow of alcohol and a couple of major secrets suddenly revealed, and you've got yourself one dangerous dinner party" (Associated Press).
Hayat Shah is a young American in love for the first time. His normal life of school, baseball, and video games had previously been distinguished only by his Pakistani heritage and by the frequent chill between his parents, who fight over things he is too young to understand. Then Mina arrives, and everything changes.
Mina is Hayat's mother's oldest friend from Pakistan. She is independent, beautiful and intelligent, and arrives on the Shah's doorstep when her disastrous marriage in Pakistan disintegrates. Even Hayat's skeptical father can't deny the liveliness and happiness that accompanies Mina into their home. Her deep spirituality brings the family's Muslim faith to life in a way that resonates with Hayat as nothing has before. Studying the Quran by Mina's side and basking in the glow of her attention, he feels an entirely new purpose mingled with a growing infatuation for his teacher.
When Mina meets and begins dating a man, Hayat is confused by his feelings of betrayal. His growing passions, both spiritual and romantic, force him to question all that he has come to believe is true. Just as Mina finds happiness, Hayat is compelled to act -- with devastating consequences for all those he loves most.
American Dervish is a brilliantly written, nuanced, and emotionally forceful look inside the interplay of religion and modern life. Ayad Akhtar was raised in the Midwest himself, and through Hayat Shah he shows readers vividly the powerful forces at work on young men and women growing up Muslim in America. This is an intimate, personal first novel that will stay with listeners long after they finish.
