Written and performed by Ayad Akhtar
Lisa Timmel, dramaturg

Ayad Akhtar is a playwright and novelist. He is the author of Junk (Lincoln Center, Broadway; 2018 Kennedy Prize for American Drama, Tony nomination); Disgraced (Lincoln Center, Broadway; 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Tony nomination, Nestroy Award); The Who & The What (Lincoln Center); and The Invisible Hand (Obie Award, Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Award, Olivier and Evening Standard nominations). As a novelist, he is the author of American Dervish (Little, Brown & Co.), published in over 20 languages. He is the recipient of an award in literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the 2017 Steinberg Playwriting Award, 2019 Erwin Piscator Award, as well as fellowships from the American Academy in Rome, MacDowell, the Sundance Institute and Yaddo, where he serves as a board director. He is a board trustee at PEN/America and New York Theatre Workshop.

Lisa Timmel is a dramaturg and producer who specializes in new play development and production. Presently managing director of Bated Breath Theatre Company, previous positions include director of new work at The Huntington Theatre Company in Boston, director of new play development at Playwrights Horizons, dramaturg and advisor to the Emerging Writers Group at the Public Theater, artistic producer at Carole Shorenstein Hayes Productions. Notable productions include I Was Most Alive with You, Sons of the Prophet, Tiger Style!, Smart People, I Am My Own Wife, Grey Gardens, Small Tragedy, and The Pain and The Itch. She has worked with various developmental organizations including Sundance Theater Institute, New Dramatists, and Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. Ms. Timmel holds an MFA in dramaturgy from Columbia University and teaches at Queens College.