DECOLONIZED PERFORMANCE COURSE
After a competitive application process, New Arab American Theater Works has selected ten Minnesotan performers of SWANA or Somali descent who will participate in an intensive course on decolonized performance techniques for the stage. We are building a diverse and established cohort of SWANA and Somali actors who will authentically and skillfully represent our communities in the theater scene.
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The cohort will be directed by 2023 McKnight Distinguished Artist and Pangea World Theater Director Dipankar Mukherjee. The program will culminate in a public theatrical showcase, coming in Spring 2023.
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Meet the Facilitator
DIPANKAR MUKHERJEE
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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.
Meet the Performers
LEILA AWADALLAH
Palestinian American
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
Lebanese American
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
Tunisian American
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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
Somali American
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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
Somali American
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
Lebanese American
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
Egyptian American
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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
Palestinian American
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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
Moroccan American
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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
Egyptian American
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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.