HISTORY AND MISSION
New Arab American Theater Works is a Minnesota-based theater organization which develops and showcases artistic work by local SWANA (Southwest Asian and North African) and Arab American artists. As the only SWANA theater organization in Minnesota, and one of only four nationally–our mission is to defy the media vilification of the SWANA region by giving our community the platform to represent ourselves.
We were founded in 2014, by a collective of Minnesota-based educators, theater artists, writers, and organizers, who saw the gross dehumanization and underrepresentation of Arab Americans in media, and sought to create a platform for our community to reclaim our stories. Our founding collective has worked together for over 20 years in many capacities including non-profit, education, and professional theater. Now, we have brought our collective experiences to create this unique oasis for SWANA American artists to reclaim their stories through art.
Our work is redefining American understanding of Arabs, the Middle East, and Muslim identity--shifting away from the single story that the Middle East is a place of terrorism, barbarism, and war. We are celebrating, cultivating, and cherishing the rich culture and history of the Middle East, one play, one musical piece, one workshop at a time. ​
COALITION BUILDING
We are proud members of the MENA Theater Makers Alliance (MENATMA) and the Twin Cities Theater of Color Coalition (TCTOCC), where we work to build a more vibrant future for MENA and BIPOC theater artists.
Pictured: MENA Theater Makers Alliance (MENATMA) board
Pictured: Members of the Twin Cities Theater of Color Coalition
STAFF
Kathryn Haddad
Founding Artistic Executive Director
Kathryn Haddad (she/her) is a writer, teacher, speaker, and community organizer whose work explores contemporary Southwest Asian/North African (SWANA) experiences. Kathryn was a 2004-05 recipient of the Archibald Bush Leadership Fellowship. She has received three Playwrights’ Center Many Voices Fellowships as well as several artist awards from the Minnesota State Arts Board. She was the 2018 Kay Sexton Award honoree for her work with the SWANA Community, and received a 2019-20 Jerome Fellowship in playwriting. Kathryn was a member of the 2021-22 Mu Tang Clan of writers at Theater Mu. She was awarded a 2022 McKnight Culture Bearer Fellowship, and was named a “50 Over 50” Award Honoree by AARP Minnesota and Pollen in 2022. She is a founding core board member of the national MENATMA (Middle East North African Theater Makers Association). As a writer, her plays and creative nonfiction have appeared throughout the United States, including her work Zafira and the Resistance at the Guthrie’s Dowling Studio in 2019. Her play Zafira the Olive Oil Warrior appears in the 2018 anthology Contemporary Plays by Women of Color, edited by Roberta Uno, and her work has been mentioned in several compilations of important contributions to the SWANA community. Kathryn has worked extensively with Pangea World Theater as a cofounder, artist, commissioned playwright, and collaborator. She cofounded Mizna where she served as artistic and executive director for 12 years. She is the current artistic and executive director of New Arab American Theater Works where several of her plays have been produced over the last 10 years.
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Email: kathy@newarabamericantheaterworks.org​
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Sana Wazwaz
Program & Administrative Assistant | Associate Yalla Drum Instructor
Sana Wazwaz is a Palestinian American writer, theater artist, musician, and organizer. She is the Chapter Lead of American Muslims for Palestine Minnesota and an organizer in Minnesota's Free Palestine Coalition. Her writing has been seen in Hayden's Ferry Review, Water~Stone Review, Overtly Lit, The Ghassan Kanafani Arts Anthology, and at the Colorado College Fine Arts Center. Her creative nonfiction essay, "How to Say 'Survival' in Latin" was nominated for Best American Essay 2025. Sana is a two-time member of New Arab American Theater Works' Playwright Incubator Program, where her debut play, "Birthright Palestine," was developed and subsequently performed in the 2023 Playwright Showcase. In addition to writing, Sana is also a long-time member and associate instructor of the Yalla Drum Ensemble. She holds a BA in English with a creative writing concentration from Augsburg University.
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Email: sana@newarabamericantheaterworks.org
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Tarek Aboueid
Yalla Drum Assistant Director
Tarek Aboueid is a Palestinian artist, musician, and poet dedicated to keeping Arab and Palestinian culture alive. Whether he’s drumming on the Derbeke; protesting with the Davul; singing classic songs by Umm Kulthum, Abdel Halim, and Fairuz; dancing Dabke; or jamming on the Mijwiz, he has a passion for bringing people together through art and music. Tarek has embraced the Twin Cities' cultural and arts scene through storytelling, writing, music, film, and theater, contributing to local projects like After the Last Red Sky, the Mizna Twin Cities Arab Film Festival, and the New Arab American Theater Works Playwright showcase. He is a board member of New Arab American Theater Works, where he is a three-year member of the Yalla Drum Ensemble. He is also a part of MIZNA’s film screening committee. His other passions include archiving old cassette tapes, practicing tatreez, Arabic graphic design, and language learning—always finding new ways to celebrate Arab heritage and amplify Arab voices in the arts.
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Robert Lehmann
Yalla Drum Principal Director
Robert Lehmann is a mixed-Filipino musician specializing primarily in keyboard-based instruments, with significant experience in Arabic drumming, as well. Robert’s keyboard work draws on his many years studying western classical music on the piano, re-examining those sounds under new lights of improvised music and electronic synthesis. He gathers disparate influences across minimalist and classical piano, house and electronica, hip-hop, choral, ambient, jazz, and film scoring, particularly drawing on Romantic and Impressionist era influences, as well as pulling from Arabic music and Afrobeats from his years spent in those ensembles.
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Robert Lehmann plays keys and beats with several Twin Cities groups including Afrobeats/hip-hop artist Fanaka Nation; Asian-American pop trio, The Umamies; Afrorock artist, Obi Original; Arabic drumming group, Yalla Drum; Arabic music chamber group, The Arab Band; and improvised music in solo format as well as a duo with Toby Ramaswamy on the drums that is not quite jazz, not quite neoclassical, not quite minimalist, not quite drum and bass. In Spring of 2024, Robert and Toby embarked on a successful 11 date international tour to Brooklyn, NY and back to perform and record with esteemed multi-instrumentalist and grammy-nominated artist, Shahzad Ismaily. Their debut offering with Paul Taylor of Crowded House is in the works.
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BOARD OF DIRECTORS
LAYLA ASAMARAI
Board President
Layla Asamarai is a licensed clinical psychologist specialized in treatment of trauma. She is the founder and managing director of The Luminous Mind in Roseville Minnesota. Dr. Layla is a mother of three and enjoys reading, cooking, and mauy thai.
ANDREA SHAKER
Board Vice President
Andrea Shaker (Secretary) is a professor of art at the College of St. Benedict | St. John's University. She earned her BA from Georgetown University and her Master of Fine Arts from the University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign. She studied Arabic at the American University in Cairo and French at l'Université de Fribourg. Her photographic artwork has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including solo and group shows in Minneapolis, Chicago, New York, and Glasgow. Her film work has screened at the Walker Art Center and the Twin Cities Arab Festival, has been aired on Twin Cities Public Television and is part of the Ruben/Benston Moving Image collection at the Walker Art Center.
MEG AMAD
Board Treasurer
Meg Amad is a Palestinian-American writer, educator, and activist. Before becoming a full-time Mom, she taught Literature and Composition for over a decade. Meg is excited to connect with and support her community by serving on the board at New Arab American Theatre Works.
TAREK ABOUEID
Board Secretary
Tarek is a Palestinian artist, musician, and poet dedicated to keeping Arab and Palestinian culture alive. Whether he’s drumming on the Derbeke; protesting with the Davul; singing classic songs by Umm Kulthum, Abdel Halim, and Fairuz; dancing Dabke; or jamming on the Mijwiz, he has a passion for bringing people together through art and music. Tarek has embraced the Twin Cities' cultural and arts scene through storytelling, writing, music, film, and theater, contributing to local projects like After the Last Red Sky, the Mizna Twin Cities Arab Film Festival, and the New Arab American Theater Works Playwright showcase. He is a board member of New Arab American Theater Works, where he is a three-year member of the Yalla Drum Ensemble. He is also a part of MIZNA’s film screening committee. His other passions include archiving old cassette tapes, practicing tatreez, Arabic graphic design, and language learning—always finding new ways to celebrate Arab heritage and amplify Arab voices in the arts.
JAWDY OBEID
Jawdy is a child of Palestinian immigrants. He has been active in the Arab American and Muslim American communities for many years where he volunteers with and supports Palestinian Human Rights Organizations. He has appeared in several New Arab American Theater Works productions, including Road To City of Apples by Kathryn Haddad, and Turbulence by William Nour. He also had the lead role in the Pangea World Theater Production of Ismail Khalidi’s Sabra Falling, and has appeared in several staged readings for Pangea World Theater’s Alternate Vision’s program. He currenly serves as the president of the board of directors for New Arab American Theater Works. He has a masters degree in buisness administration from University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Management.
ABBE PENZINER BOKDE
Abbe hails from the NYC-area, the daughter of two non-religious U.S.-born Brooklyn Russian Jewish parents whose parents spoke Yiddish but would tell you that they did not (and they most certainly did!). Transplanted to Minneapolis 8 years ago, she was welcomed into the inaugural New Arab American Theater Works Yalla Drum! ensemble in 2019. She continues to feel grateful and happy to play her part in growing a uniquely Minnesotan community of Arabic drummers. She believes in the essential power of music making and the arts to build community and belonging in the best and worst of times, and in that spirit, looks forward to bringing all she can to support the mission and programming of New Arab American Theater Works.
By day, Abbe works as a General Pediatrician, committed to ensuring barrier free healthcare access for each and every newborn, child, youth and their families.
AHMED ISMAIL YUSUF
Raised in a nomadic upbringing, Ahmed Ismail Yusuf is the author of three books: Gorgorkii Yimi, a collection of short stories in Somali, The Lion’s Binding Oath, a collection of short stories in English, and Somalis in Minnesota. His short stories appeared in Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali studies, Mizna: An Arab-American literary magazine. His play ”Tales of Time” was given several staged readings at New Arab American Theater Works in collaboration with Pangea World Theater. “A Crack in the Sky” was produced at the History Theatre in Saint Paul and others at Mixed Blood. His mental health publications appeared in Journal of Muslim Mental Health; Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology; International Society for Traumatic-stress Studies, Psychiatry Times. He has a BS in creative writing and psychology from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut; and an MPA (Master of Public Affairs) from the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs of the University of Minnesota.