They Came in the Night
March 24-26 By Zizi Majid
Directed by Carolyn Cantor
Produced and Dramaturged by Kristin Leahey
A Note from the Dramaturg/Producer: Interpreters and Immigration
In 2019, 89,000 Iraqi and Afghani nationals who served for the U.S. Armed Forces in the U.S.’s respective wars with their countries received Special Immigrant Visas to relocate post the conflicts. However, still roughly 100,000 Iraqis await from the U.S. State Department proper documentation to relocate to the U.S. and, in many cases, escape persecution in their homeland. Despite being thoroughly vetted through a rigorous security process to become interpreters, often those who wish to immigrate must wait an average of four years and undergo additional security screenings to receive visas. This past fall of 2021, when the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan, thousands of nationals, who worked with the U.S. military and government, urgently tried to flee the country out of fear that they and their families would be killed because of their affiliations with the U.S. 20,000 Afghan nationals, along with 53,000 of their family members, who were in a backlog for Special Immigrant Visas to immigrate to the U.S., were living in the country during the militaristic power transition. Since 2001, it’s been reported by the nonprofit No One Left Behind that over 300 Afghan interpreters and their family members have been killed because of their affiliations with U.S. military. In 2016, 325 Iraqi interpreters were allowed to immigrate to the U.S. In 2017, the number declined to 196. And for 2018, only two Iraqi interpreters received visas. This was a more than 99 percent drop over three years, according to statistics from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services collected by NBC News. A small number of Iraqi women served as interpreters and did so for personal, educational, and financial reasons, as you will observe in They Came in the Night by Zizi Majid. Its interpreter makes this journey, along with her family, of immigration and resettlement in the U.S.A. from Iraq.
-Kristin Leahey, Dramaturg and Producer
Special thanks to WP Theater, 2020-22 WP Theater Lab, Lisa McNulty, Carolyn Cantor, Rebecca Martinez, Michael Sag, Lilla Goettler, Gary Levinson, Roxanna Barrios, Nidia Medina, Boston University School of Theatre Alumni, Boston University College of Fine Arts, Adam Kassim, and all the folks watching the children.
The Actors and Stage Managers employed in this production are members of ACTORS’ EQUITY ASSOCIATION the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States
The Director is a member of the STAGE DIRECTORS AND CHOREOGRAPHERS SOCIETY, a national theatrical labor union
UNITED SCENIC ARTISTS, Local USA 829, is a labor union and professional association of Designers, Artists and Craftspeople.
Caroline Eng (Sound Design)
(she/her) is a sound designer and podcast engineer based in New York. Selected Sound Design credits: The Late Wedding (Brown University/Trinity Rep), The Moors (Greater Boston Stage Company), Measure For Measure (Theatreworks, UCCS), The Broken Machine (American Academy for the Dramatic Arts) Selected Assistant Design credits: Bring Down The House (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), Fefu and Her Friends (Theatre For A New Audience) Selected Training: Fordham College At Lincoln Center (NY). Connect at carolineengdesign.com
Eisenberg Beans Casting (Casting)
Daryl Eisenberg, CSA & Ally Beans, CSA. Broadway: Gettin’ The Band Back Together. New York Theatre: Bedlam, Baghdaddy, Cherry Lane’s Mentor Project, New York Theatre Barn, and more. Regional/Other: May We All (LivelyMcCabe/CuzBro), Heartbreak Hotel (Broadway in Chicago), Dallas Theater Center, Folger Theatre, Cape Cod Theatre Project, Norwegian Cruise Line, Tenors of Rock. Film: The Cathedral (Sundance), The MisEducation of Bindu, A Case of Blue, Shadows (HBO), Hands That Bind, Project Pay Day, Kendra and Beth. TV: Timberwood, Mulligan. Podcasts/New Media: Limetown, Shipworm, City of Ghosts, Falling in Love With Mr. Dellamort, Verdict.
Zizi Majid
(WRITER, she/her) is a playwright whose plays advocate for a shared humanity. Plays include How to Gild An Eagle (Finalist, Columbia@Roundabout New Play Reading Series; Semi-Finalist, National Playwrights Conference; Semi-Finalist, Athena Project); Return to Fall (Finalist, Blue Ink Playwriting Award; Semi-Finalist, National Playwrights Conference; Semi-Finalist, Bay Area Playwrights Festival); To Raqqa With Love (International Human Rights Arts Festival 2021); Cost (Climate Change Theatre Action Commission 2021); Being in Time (International Human Rights Arts Festival 2019); How Did the Cat Get So Fat? (nominated Best Play, Life! Theatre Awards, Singapore); Yusof (Festival Commission, Pesta Raya, Singapore). For five years, Zizi was the Artistic Director of Teater Ekamatra (Singapore), successfully breaking into the mainstream during her tenure, tripling audiences and garnering multiple awards. She received the Young Artist Award from National Arts Council of Singapore for extraordinary contributions to Singapore theatre. Currently, an Instructor of Drama at Syracuse University she received her MFA from Columbia University, where she was also a fellow of the International Fellows Program at the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs.
Carolyn Cantor
(DIRECTOR, she/her)is thrilled to be back at WP Theater working with Zizi and Kristin on this beautiful play. She is a New York based director of primarily new work for the stage. Off Broadway credits include Sell/Buy/Date, Regrets and Pumpgirl (Manhattan Theatre Club); Indian Summer, Fly By Night, Great God Pan, After the Revolution (Callaway Award), Essential Self Defense (Playwrights Horizons); Arlington (Vineyard); In a Dark Dark House (MCC Theater); Something You Did (Primary Stages); The Talls (Second Stage); Core Values (Ars Nova); Orange Flower Water and Stone Cold Dead Serious (Edge Theater), and EVE-olution (Cherry Lane). Selected Regional credits include: Good Boys (Pasadena Playhouse), Sell Buy Date and Rabbit Hole (Garland Award) and The Violet Hour (Old Globe), After the Revolution, Not Waving and King Stag (Williamstown Theatre Festival), Vera Laughed and Get What You Need (NYS&F), and Diary of Anne Frank (Papermill). Carolyn has received the Boris Sagal and Bill Foeller Fellowships from Williamstown, a Drama League Directing Fellowship and the Seldes-Kanin Fellowship from the Theatre Hall of Fame. She is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the mother of two daughters.
Kristin Leahey
(PRODUCER, she/her) served as the Director of New Works at Seattle Repertory Theatre, and, prior to that post, the Literary Manager at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, among others. She has freelanced as an artist with the O’Neill Theater Center, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Play On Shakespeare, Arizona Theatre Company, Trinity Repertory Theatre, Primary Stages, Classical Stage Company, the Playwrights’ Center, Dallas Theater Center, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Guthrie Theater, Jungle Theater, Village Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Goodman Theatre, The Lark, The Kennedy Center, The Old Globe, the Indiana Repertory Theatre, Cleveland Play House, Victory Gardens Theater, American Theatre Company, Collaboraction, Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, New Repertory Theatre, Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Galway Arts Festival, Teatro Luna, Teatro Vista (artistic associate), Steep Theatre Company (ensemble), A Red Orchid Theatre, and Shakespeare & Company (Artistic Consultant), among others. She is an Assistant Professor, Dramatic Literature & Dramaturgy at Boston University and holds a Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin. She is a 2021 recipient of a Fulbright.
Hana Chamoun (Zsa Zsa)
– born in London and raised in Lebanon- is an actress based in New York City. She trained in Method acting for one year and in the Meisner technique for two years at the Terry Knickerbocker Studio, where she was honored as class speaker for her graduating class. Raised by filmmaker-parents, Hana knew she belonged in the world of film from an early age. She discovered her passion for acting in Beirut on the set of her father’s film, In The Shadows of the City (2000), where she made her feature film debut at the age of five. At 21, Hana had a formative experience acting in 3000 Nights (2015), filmed in Jordan, where she also worked closely as an advisor to the director. Since moving to New York, Hana has starred in the acclaimed short film Salam (2018), which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, and has appeared on the Emmy Award-winning show Ramy (2020). She also has leading roles in the Netflix Original show Jinn (2018) and the TV show Medinah (2017). Hana is grateful to be working with WP and these incredible women on bringing this beautiful play to life.
Sarah Nina Hayon (Dilla/Amanda)
is a bicoastal actress and thrilled to be working with WP. A three-time Drama Desk Award nominee, she is passionate about new works and has developed with many Broadway and Off-Broadway companies. Recent theater highlights include: American Fast (Denver Center New Play Summit, Marti Lyons), Wintertime (Berkeley Rep, Les Waters) Seascape (A.C.T, Pam Mackinnon, BACC nomination), Sweat (A.C.T., Loretta Greco), We Swim We Talk We Go To War, (Golden Thread Productions, Evren Odchikin), Swimmers (Marin Theatre Company, Mike Donahue; Theatre Bay Area Award nomination), No One Is Forgotten (Rattlestick, Winter Miller) and Water by the Spoonful (The Old Globe, directed by Edward Torres). Film + TV credits include: The Surrogate, FBI, For Life, 13 Reasons Why, Succession, Danny DeVito’s Curmudgeons She is a proud graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of The Arts and a member of LAByrinth Theater Company
Lameece Issaq (Nisa)
is an actor, writer and Founding Artistic Director of the Obie-winning company Noor Theatre, dedicated to the work of theater artists of Middle Eastern descent. Lameece has appeared in several regional and off-Broadway theater productions, including The Fever Chart and Stuff Happens (Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Ensemble) at the Public Theatre, The Black Eyed at New York Theatre Workshop and Noura at The Old Globe, among several others. She recently appeared in Mike Mosallam’s critically acclaimed film Breaking Fast. Lameece is also an accomplished audiobook narrator having narrated Saudi Arabian author Manal Al-Sharif’s timely autobiography, Daring to Drive and most recently, The Magical Reality of Nadia, co-written by The Daily Show’s Bassem Youssef. As a playwright, she’s written various short plays produced in The New York Arab-American Comedy Festival; as well as Noor & Hadi Go to Hogwarts (Theater Breaking Through Barriers, Golden Thread Theater); and Nooha’s List, part of the compilation play, Motherhood Outloud (Hartford Stage, The Geffen and Primary Stages). Her full length play Food and Fadwa, 2011 recipient of the Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award, premiered off-Broadway at New York Theatre Workshop, a production she co-produced and starred in, and in which Variety magazine praised her performance as “stunning.” Food and Fadwa was a part of the Arab Voices Festival in both Abu Dhabi and Beirut and was published in the anthology “Contemporary Plays By Women of Color,” second edition. She also co-wrote the feature film Abe, directed by Fernando Grostein Andrade, and starring Stranger Things’ Noah Schnapp, which premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. She is currently developing her solo play, A Good Day to Me, Not to You, a fictionalized story based on her time living in a woman’s rooming house run by nuns. Lameece is a member of AEA and SAG-AFTRA. 2016 NYFA Finalist in Playwriting/Screenwriting. www.lameeceissaq.com
Jackie Romankow (Stage Directions)
(she/her/hers) is a Brooklyn-based actor. She recently graduated from Boston University with a BFA in acting, and has since been in a short film, performed in a new work at The Tank NYC and has been cast as Hermia in an upcoming production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She is very thankful to be in her first performance with WP Theater and sends all her friends and family much love! www.JackieRomankow.com
Bea Perez-Arche (Production Stage Manager)
is a Cuban-American Theatre Artist based in New York City and is ecstatic to be working with WP Theater. She has primarily worked at The Public Theater on the New York Shakespeare Festival and Under The Radar Theatre Festival. She has also worked with a range of company’s including, Tectonic Theater Project, Chelsea Factory and Boston Playwrights Theater. She received her BFA in Theater Arts: Design & Production from Boston University. She is an Associate Artist at Sanguine Theatre Company and currently freelances as a Stage Manager and Dramaturg.
Liz Schweitzer (Lighting Design)
is a New York City based Lighting Designer. As a Lighting Designer and Assistant she has worked at MTC, Roundabout, The Signature, La Mama Experimental Theater, The Vineyard Theatre, and Stella Adler. She is a proud graduate of Barnard College at Columbia University, and the Juilliard Apprenticeship Program. More info about Liz and her work can be found at lizlights.com.
