Kimberly Senior directs the work, produced by special arrangement with The Araca Group. Performances will play Feb. 3-March 4, 2012, at American Theater Company's home at 1909 W. Byron in Chicago. Opening is Feb. 6, 2012.

In the play, according to ATC notes, a Muslim-American lawyer in New York City "is rapidly moving up the corporate ladder while he distances himself from his cultural roots. At the moment of achieving his life-long ambitions, he falls victim to professional and personal betrayals that manifest in one of the most explosive and controversial scenes ever written for the theatre."

The play is an "examination of a modern Muslim-American struggling to define his identity."

Akhtar's first novel, "American Dervish," is being published by Little, Brown and Company in January 2012.

For tickets and information, visit (773) 409-4125 or visit www.atcweb.org. *

American Theater Company is an ensemble of artists committed to producing new and classic American stories that ask the question, "What does it mean to be an American?"