DECOLONIZED PERFORMANCE COHORT
New Arab American Theater Works hosts an intensive performers training course on decolonized performance techniques for the stage. With its inaugural cohort launched in 2025, this program selects Minnesotan performers through a state-wide application process to participate in a 12-session master course on decolonized theatrical practices. We are building a diverse and established cohort of BIPOC who will authentically and skillfully represent our communities in the theater scene. The program is directed by 2023 McKnight Distinguished Artist, Dipankar Mukherjee.
What is Decolonized Performance?
Curious to learn what constitutes decolonized performance? Watch our short documentary, which features interviews by our cohort members, as well as our program facilitator, Dipankar Mukherjee, a seasoned theatrical director with directing experience across the Global South.
Documentary by Jordan Lee Thompson
Meet the Facilitator
Dipankar Mukherjee
Dipankar Mukherjee is a professional director originally from Calcutta, India with a 25-year history of directing. He is the Artistic Director of Pangea World Theater and received the 2023 McKnight Distinguished Artist Award. He co-founded Pangea World Theater, an international theater in Minneapolis that is a progressive space for arts and dialogue. His aesthetics have evolved through his commitment to social justice, equity and deep spirituality and these factors along with relevant politics form the basis of his work. As a director, he has worked in India, England, Canada and the United States.
Dipankar has received the Humphrey Institute Fellowship to Salzburg and has been a Ford Foundation delegate to India and Lebanon. He is a recent recipient of the Bush Leadership Fellowship award to study non-violence and peace methodologies in India and South Africa. Dipankar was invited to visit the White House as part of the Asian American and Pacific Islanders Delegation. In his rehearsal and workshop practices, Dipankar’s facilitated processes that work to disrupt colonial, racist and patriarchal modalities that we have inherited and collaboratively searches for an alternate way of working.
2026-2027 PERFORMANCE COHORT
ABDALLAH ALDWAIK
Abdallah Aldwaik, from Hebron, Palestine, is a Communication and International Studies student at the University of St. Thomas. Abdallah is a member of New Arab American Theater Works’ Yalla Drum Ensemble, where he plays SWANA percussion to reclaim Arab American representation. Now, he joins this performance ensemble with an aim to use theater arts to raise community awareness about the fight against colonization
LEOR BENJAMIN
Leor Benjamin is a performance artist from Minneapolis, celebrating ten years of activity in Twin Cities theatre. He is a graduate of the Performing Institute of Minnesota '17 and BFA Columbia College Chicago '22. Leor most recently performed in the highly acclaimed The Jungle with Mixed Blood Theatre Company and Macbeth at the Guthrie Theater. Elsewhere, Leor is a decorated documentary filmmaker and past student of The Second City. The Decolonized Performance Cohort is Leor's third collaboration with New Arab American Theater Works. @soundandfuryroad
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CLAUDIA GARCIA
Claudia Garcia is a Mexican American theater artist and an active performer in the Twin Cities theater community. Her recent credits include So Bright, The Night (Hey Rube!/Minnesota Fringe), The Chrysalis (The Fiol Family Foundation), Death and the Maiden (Pangea World Theater), and Rosette (New Arab American Theater Works). She has also performed with Teatro del Pueblo, Exposed Brick Theater, and Minnesota Opera. Beyond the stage, Claudia works as an immigration paralegal and is passionate about amplifying diverse voices through theater.
FARAH GHAZAL
Farah Ghazal is a Lebanese American actor from Kalamazoo, Michigan. Having recently relocated to Minneapolis, she is thrilled to be a part of the New Arab American Theater Works' Decolonized Performance Techniques Course! Farah has a background in musical theatre and has had the opportunity to be a part of productions such as Sweeney Todd, Footloose, The Lighting Thief, and Be More Chill. She is really looking forward to collaborating with other SWANA actors as she has always encountered a lack of Arab and BIPOC representation on the stage. In her free time, Farah enjoys scuba diving and spending time outdoors.
IKTEMAL JABER
Iktemal Jaber is a Palestinian American artist working primarily in documentary photography. Her work explores Palestinian identity and diaspora, with a focus on documenting everyday life and the social and political realities that shape it. She holds a B.A. in Studio Art from the University of New Mexico and studied at the International Academy of Art Palestine. She has also worked in theater and performance, and is interested in how camera practices can move into performance as a way of questioning how stories are documented and represented.
NIKKI LUNA
Nikki Luna is a Lebanese American poet, visual artist, editor, and archival researcher based in St. Paul, Minnesota. Nikki coordinates the Twin Cities-based Mizna Writing Collective and curates the Baba's x Mizna Lit Series - a quarterly public reading series hosted at Baba's Hummus House in Minneapolis. They enjoy teaching visual poetry and have taught their "Exploring Methods of Visual Poetry" workshop with Chicago-based Querencia Press. Nikki has done archival research with The Don Kelly Research Collection of Gay Literature and Culture in College Station, TX, and the Newberry Library in Chicago, IL.
ATIM OPOKA
Atim Opoka (They/She) is a Ugandan-American (Acholi) songwriter, vocalist, composer, producer, sound designer, and teaching artist who fuses Afro-pop and alternative beats while embracing the power of transformative storytelling. They are a sound artist in Infinite Slow Drive | Obsidians in the Wild (ISD|OITW) Brownbody, 2024 Naked Stages Fellow, 2024 Monkeybear Puppetry Cohort, 2023 Q-Stage Artist, 2023-25 Jerome Hill Artist Fellow, TRCSTR 2023 Artist, a 2021 recipient of a Waters Award, as well as an Our Space is Spoken For Fellowship from the Twin Cities Media Alliance. Atim has been in residency with Brownbody, and at three-thirty one space with Rosy Simas Danse.
AMIR SHEREEF
Amir Shereef is an Egyptian American, multi-talented singer and actor who leverages his improv training from HUGE Improv Theater, as well as his Meisner training, to lead with vulnerability. His recent credits include The Night at the Abbey, Rosette, and Inherit the Wind. Amir is also marking his debut as a producer and director in a local production of True West by Sam Shepard. He couldn’t be more grateful for and proud of this performance ensemble. Special thanks to Dipankar Mukherjee as well as his friends and family for their unwavering support.
SANA WAZWAZ
Sana Wazwaz is a Palestinian American writer, performer, and theater artist. Her work appears in Black Warrior Review, Literary Hub, Water~Stone Review, Hayden's Ferry Review, Overtly Lit, and elsewhere. Sana is a two-time member of New Arab American Theater Works' National Playwright Incubator Program, where her play, Birthright Palestine, was developed and received staged readings in their 2023 and 2026 play festivals. She was a nominee for Best American Essay 2025, a finalist in Black Warrior Review’s 2025 creative nonfiction contest, and a recipient of the 2026 Metro Regional Arts Council’s Next Step Fund for the completion of her debut prose/poetry book. More at sanawazwaz.com
AHMED ISMAIL YUSUF
Ahmed Ismail Yusuf is the author of three books: Gorgorkii Yimi, a collection of short stories in Somali; The Lion’s Binding Oath, Somalis in Minnesota; and Maana-faay, translated from Somali into English. Two additional stories, Raad Raac and The Lion’s Gazing Guide, are in development. His short stories appeared in Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies, Mizna, Home: An Anthology and Under Purple Skies: Minneapolis Anthology. A Crack in the Sky, a play based on his life, was produced at the History Theater, and others were performed at Pangea (Tales of Time), New Arab American Theater (Conscience Cafe), as well as Mixed Blood Theater (Dance with Me). He has a BS in creative writing and psychology from Trinity College and an MPA from the University of Minnesota.
2025-2026 PERFORMANCE COHORT
LEILA AWADALLAH
Leila Awadallah is a dancer, choreographer, and community collaborator based in Minneapolis, Mni Sota Makoce, and sometimes Lebanon. Palestine roots her artistry within Arab American contexts, conjuring mixed Mediterranean ways and waves. She is the founder of Body Watani Dance with her sister Noelle. BWD is a body-as-homeland movement practice investigating how dance emerges from ancestral intuition, cultural folk experimentation, land-based attunement, and SUMUD in service of cultural INTIFADA. Her artistic path meaningfully impacted by McKnight (2023) and Jerome (2021) fellowships, as well as her years with Ananya Dance Theatre (2014-2019) and Theater of the Women of the Camp (2019-present, Beirut).
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AZIZ BISANZ
Aziz is a queer/trans Lebanese-American somatic therapist, cultural worker, astrologer, writer and performer residing in Mni Sota Makoce. Aziz is a co-creator and tender of the Grief and Rage Circle for Palestine and a long-time member of the Mizna Arab Arts Writing Collective. Aziz has done a variety of readings and performances with the collective since 2017. Aziz is also a member of the New Arab American Theater Works Yalla Drum Ensemble and has performed with them at numerous venues in Minnesota.
HANEN BOUCHRIT
Hanen Bouchrit is a Tunisian American actor and writer. She has previously appeared in the Tunisian film KADAR/Sons of the Lord by Imen Bin Hassine in 2022, the staged reading of Rosette by William Nour, and reprised her performance in the mainstage production Rosette in 2024 (produced by New Arab American Theater Works). She is also a member of the Worldwide Women Association. Outside of acting, Hanen is currently an Arabic teacher at Aim Academy.
KHALID DAHIR
Khalid Dahir an artist and performer from Somalia. He has been involved in the performing arts for over 10 years as an actor, singer, dancer, songwriter, and storyteller. Dahir has performed in several plays and short films and performed in more than 1,000 events across over ten states. He is proficient in and performs more than ten traditional Somali dances, and his work focuses on keeping Somali culture and stories alive through art. Dahir is passionate about using performance to connect people, share culture, and inspire the next generation of artists.
WASIMA FARAH
Wasima Farah (She/Her) is a Somali Actor and multidisciplinary artist based in Minnesota. With an early love for art, she began her creative journey in 2017 through high school plays, short films, and comedy skits, later expanding into background work, voice acting, production assistance, and art direction, She hopes to continue serving as an artist to her community by sharing work inspired by our everyday stories and using theater as a space to amplify Somali narratives, challenge perceptions, and embody stories that speak to both our personal and collective transformation.
NADIA
Nadia is a Lebanese American multidisciplinary artist, musician, and peace activist working at the intersection of personal healing and collective liberation. She performs with Yalla Drum and Kith + Kin Chorus and is creating two layered multimedia projects: Hope, a stop-motion and music journey through trauma and healing, and Radiant Reach, a visionary world of care, transformation, and truth. Through story, movement, and sound, she builds bridges from the ache of longing toward the radiance of becoming. Rooted and rising, she believes art is a portal to a new way, where justice, joy, and love are for all.
NADER HELMY
Nader Helmy is a Cairo-born, Minnesota-raised writer, technologist, and multidisciplinary artist. A national runner-up at CUPSI, his poetry has appeared with Button Poetry and in live exhibitions, newsletters, and zines. He performs Arabic music with the Yalla Drum Ensemble across the Minneapolis area and released his debut mixtape, PURPLE SUN, in August 2019. Beyond the stage, Nader works in digital identity and data privacy, where he has built products, contributed to global technical standards, and published essays in the field. He now builds consumer social and media apps as a founder. A storyteller at heart, he is dedicated to building a future of collective liberation — in the digital world and beyond.
WILLIAM NOUR
William Nour is a queer Palestinian American, multi-genre writer, born in Nazareth, Palestine. His family’s village, Almujaydel was razed during Nakba. His work appears in Mizna and the pending anthology Ask the Night for a Dream. Willie is the recipient of a Minnesota state arts board grant for a staged reading of his debut, Turbulence, a play about the treatment of Arabs and Muslims post September 11. Turbulence was presented by Pangea World Theater and New Arab American Theater Works. In 2024, his play, Rosette, was produced by New Arab American Theater Works. Willie is also a long-time member of the Yalla Drum Ensemble.
LAILA SAHIR
Laila Sahir (she/her) is an actor and theater artist who is most interested in working on stories that explore themes of power, and she's thrilled to be participating in this cohort. Previous credits: Maybe You Could Love Me (Theater Mu), Upstream (Mixed Blood), Much Ado About Nothing (The Gray Mallard Theater), Rosette (New Arab American Theater Works), Antigonick (Full Circle Theater), Cabal (Walking Shadow Theatre), Mary's Wondrous Body (The Birth Play Project). | lailasahir.com
AMIR SHEREEF
Amir Shereef is an actor originally from Egypt who came to the US to pursue acting. After his father’s passing, he decided to take a few improv classes that awakened his craving for acting and theater. Amir was recently seen in the Eden Prairie Players’ production of Inherit the Wind, and in New Arab American Theater Works’ production of Rosette by William Nour. In addition to acting, Amir is a singer who is proud to perform traditional Arabic music with New Arab American Theater Works’ Middle Eastern Music Ensemble. Now, he is excited to continue his acting and music journey, and is grateful to be part of the Twin Cities theater community.