MIDWESTERN FESTIVAL OF NEW SWANA PLAYS
June 6-7, 2026 | Directed by Sherrine Azab
After months of workshopping new plays together, New Arab American Theater Works is excited to host the first Midwestern Festival of New SWANA (Southwest Asian and North African) Plays.
In a first-of-its-kind event, the festival will showcase six new plays by Midwestern SWANA Playwrights, which will be directed by Detroit-based Lebanese American theater artist Sherrine Azab. The plays will tackle numerous timely themes pertaining to the SWANA community–ranging from Palestinian American political dramas to psychological thrillers to fairytale adaptation to everything in between!
This festival is the culmination of New Arab American Theater Works’ second Playwright Incubator Cohort. After a competitive national application process, a cohort of Midwestern SWANA Playwrights were selected to participate in months of intensive workshops to develop new plays on SWANA American issues of importance.
​Check out our schedule of plays below! ​
SATURDAY, JUNE 6th
SUNDAY, JUNE 7th
1 PM | Homebodies
by Zainab Hussein
The airspace is closed. The U.S. State Department advises Americans to draft their wills and leave immediately. In a house on the border of Iraq and Iran, a mother and her daughters are stuck in the place they come from. These three women must decide if a way out ever exists for anyone.
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Audience talkback moderated by Layla Assamarai
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4 PM | Painting in Public
by Novid Parsi
Ali, an Iranian American data worker, and Betty, a Black American visual artist, are both reeling from loss when they find each other and fall in love. But can their love endure when Betty learns that Ali's ethnicity sometimes mysteriously changes?
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Audience talkback moderated by Joe Farag
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7 PM | Birthright Palestine
by Sana Wazwaz
After protesting a Zionist group’s “Birthright Israel Trip”--a government funded trip to Israel for Jewish students–Aida Shalabi and her university’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter become victims of a massive Zionist smear campaign, and are suspended for alleged anti-semitism. But this semester, SJP returns from suspension, and now, Aida's heart is set on returning somewhere else–to organize the first ever Birthright Palestine trip. Birthright Palestine follows a group of Palestinian-American students on a quest to return to their precious homeland, against an extensive Zionist campaign to keep them away.​​
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Audience talkback moderated by Christine Harb
1 PM | How to Lose a Prince in 10 Paintings
by Kayla Karnesky
How to Lose a Prince in 10 Paintings is a theatrical adaptation inspired by the Palestinian folktale “Abu Jameel’s Daughter.” When Rida, a young woman who feels unseen in her own home, makes a dangerous bargain to become beautiful, she suddenly finds herself at the center of royal attention. Brought to the palace and courted by Prince Alwan, Rida must navigate a world that values her appearance more than her voice. As the kingdom projects its expectations onto her, a trio of Sisters watch from the shadows, weaving fate and mischief. Through a series of striking "paintings" Rida’s story unfolds...revealing the cost of silence and the power of being truly heard.
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Audience talkback moderated by Michelle Baroody
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4 PM | Going for a WALK with the BOYS
by Alexander Attea
The boys are going for a walk. They plan to have a chill day at the lake, drinking beers, throwing frisbee, sitting around a fire, classic stuff. They need this trip, too -- one of them has recently gone through a breakup, another is struggling with work, another has just announced that he can see the future. When a mysterious dead creature appears in their cooler, the trip takes a dark turn. As they continue deeper into nature and things get even stranger, the boys are forced to confront their relationships, their past, and the structure of their identities.
​​Audience talkback moderated by William Nour
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7 PM | The Tenants
by Zeyy Fawaz
A couple’s life starts to change in bizarre ways when another couple rents their studio next door. What starts as strange becomes flat out claustrophobic for both the actors and the audience in a surreal game of toying with normal social conduct. There are two types of audiences for this play; those who like psychological thrillers and those who know what this is actually about.
​Audience talkback moderated by Fouzi Slisli
MEET THE PLAYWRIGHTS
Midwest SWANA Playwright Incubator Cohort
Alexander Attea
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Alexander Attea is the Artistic Director of Avalanche Theatre and the Creative Director of the Fine Arts Building & Studebaker Theater. He is also a playwright, actor, musician, and artist. His plays have been performed across 15 states, including with Bramble Theatre, Silk Road Cultural Center, The Plagiarists, Eclectic Full Contact Theatre, Three Brothers Theatre, Bower Theatre Ensemble, the International Museum of Surgical Science, and others. He has held residencies with Mackinac State Historic Parks and Three Brothers Theatre. More at AlexanderAttea.com.
Zeyy Fawaz
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Zeyy is an actress and vocalist who speaks five languages and sings in more than ten. A community organizer and activist, Zeyy weaves her advocacy into her artistic expression. Her body of work spans film, television, theater, commercial, and voiceover productions. A firm believer in art as a powerful political tool; Zeyy is committed to centering activism in her work, contributing to numerous productions that spotlight pressing social justice issues. In addition to holding a degree in the arts, she earned a master’s in International Relations and Development, with a concentration in Languages and Diaspora Studies. It is this unique intersection of diplomacy and artistry that informs and propels her creative and professional pursuits.
Zainab Hussein
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Zainab Hussein is an Iraqi and Midwestern writer. She holds an M.F.A. in Fiction from the Programs in Writing at the University of California, Irvine. Her forthcoming poetry book, “The Only Tunnel,” is published by Press Here Projects with support from the Flourish Fund and the Andy Warhol Foundation. In the past, she has has received fellowships and support from MacDowell, Tin House, and the International Center for Writing and Translation. Her essay and poetry can be found in Angel Food Magazine. Zainab lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she teaches at the University of Michigan.
Kayla Karnesky
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Kayla Karnesky (she/her) is a Palestinian American playwright and actor from Livonia, Michigan, and a recent graduate of Columbia College Chicago with a degree in Playwriting. Her work has been featured through Columbia’s showcases, including Playwrights Aloud (a series highlighting new 10-minute plays), One Acts Aloud, the One Act Play Festival, the 24-Hour Playfest, and the New Musical Workshop, as well as with Chicago Dramatists. Her debut full-length play, Percentages (2022), premiered at Columbia. Her second play, Ramallah, a deeply personal story inspired by her grandparents’ immigration from Palestine, earned her a place in the New Horizons Play Festival in Atlanta. She is currently developing How to Lose a Prince in 10 Paintings and adapting the Palestinian folktale Abu Jmeel’s Daughter for the stage.
Novid Parsi
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Novid Parsi's plays have been produced or developed by theaters and universities across the U.S., including Atlanta Shakespeare Company, Boise Contemporary Theater, Golden Thread Productions, Illinois State University, The New Group, Playwrights Foundation, Queens Theatre, The Road Theatre Company, Silk Road Rising, St. Louis Shakespeare Festival, and The University of Illinois. Novid has received the Stavis Playwright Award and has been named a MacDowell Fellow, two-time winner of the Ashland New Plays Festival, winner of the Crossroads Project's Diverse Voices Playwriting Initiative, Relentless Award honorable mention recipient, Jeff Award best new work nominee, and two-time finalist for both the Bay Area Playwrights Festival and the Woodward/Newman Award. A son of Iranian immigrants, Novid was born in New York and raised in Texas. He has degrees in literature from Swarthmore College and Duke University, and he's a member of the Dramatists Guild. Novid and his husband live in St. Louis.
Sana Wazwaz
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Sana Wazwaz is a Palestinian American writer and theater artist. Her work appears in Black Warrior Review, LitHub, Water~Stone Review, Hayden's Ferry Review, The Ghassan Kanafani Anthology, Overtly Lit, and has been featured at the Colorado College Fine Arts Center’s Muslim Futurism exhibit. Her work has been nominated for Best American Essay 2025, and was a finalist in Palestinian Youth Movement’s 2021 Ghassan Kanafani Arts Competition, as well as Black Warrior Review's 2025 Creative Nonfiction Contest. She holds a BA in English (creative writing concentration) from Augsburg University, and is currently the Program Assistant at New Arab American Theater Works. Sana is honored to be two-time member of this program, where her play, "Birthright Palestine," is being showcased for a second time, but in its new form. Learn more at sanawazwaz.com
MEET THE DIRECTOR
Midwestern Festival of New SWANA Plays
Sherrine Azab
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Sherrine Azab is the Co-Director of A Host of People. In addition to directing she’s also a producer, performance curator, and educator. She holds a BFA from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle where she founded the critically acclaimed company Strike Anywhere Productions before moving to New York City. There she served as the Associate Producer for The Foundry Theatre (NYC) during their 2011 and 2012 seasons and is a proud Associated Artist with Target Margin Theater (NYC). She holds a postgraduate certificate from the Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance at Wesleyan University and was a member of the 2008 Lincoln Center Director’s Lab. Azab is currently the Engagement Manager for the Network of Ensemble Theaters. She was a 2017-18 UMS Artist in Residence, a 2018 Kresge Arts in Detroit Fellow, and has worked with the Arab American National Museum, Ping Chong + Co, and the Network of Ensemble Theaters among many other theaters and arts organizations.