World Premiere of Saïd's Palestine to Play Off-Broadway

By Adam Hetrick
18 Dec 2009

Palestine star Najla Saïd
Palestine star Najla Saïd
Photo by Sturgis Warner

Najla Saïd will offer the world premiere of her solo play, Palestine, Off-Broadway at the New York Theater Workshop's 4th Street Theatre in February 2010.

NYTW and the Twilight Theatre co-present the engagement that will run Feb. 6-March 21, 2010. It will open Feb. 17, 2010. Twilight co-artistic director Sturgis Warner directs.

According to press notes, Saïd "makes a case for Palestinian and Arab points of view in ways that truly allow them to be heard. Raised in privilege on New York City's Upper West Side (where many of her best friends were Jewish) Ms. Saïd was forced as a teenager to take a family trip to the Middle East to visit her father's homeland. Anorexic and depressed, obsessed with boys and the beach, her experiences nevertheless kindled a life-long exploration of what it means to be both Arab and American. Ms. Saïd takes audiences on a whirlwind tour from kissing Jewish boys to what she describes as 'the stench of Gaza,' through two wars, the horrors of 9/11, encounters with world figures including Yasser Arafat, and life with her beloved father. Edward Saïd, was a professor at Columbia University and, until his death in 2003, a worldwide spokesman for Palestine and the Middle East."

Palestine will have set and costume design by Meghan E. Healey and lighting design by Ben Stanton.

Saïd has appeared on stage in Nine Parts of Desire and Prophecy. She is a founding member of Nibras Arab-American Theatre Collective.



For tickets visit Smarttix, or phone (212) 868-4444. NYTW's 4th Street Theatre is located at 83 East 4th Street between Second Avenue and Bowery.