Creative Team
Written by Darcy Parker Bruce
Darcy Parker Bruce’s holds an MFA in Playwriting from Smith College and was a 2017 Tennessee Williams Scholar at the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. Her play SOLDIER POET won the 2018 ATHE award, and her play ALWAYS PLENTY OF LIGHT AT THE STARLIGHT ALL NIGHT DINER will receive its world premiere with Know Theatre of Cincinnati in early 2019. She has been published through Applause/ Hal Leonard’s Best American Short Play series. She is currently teaching playwriting at Eastern Connecticut State University.
Directed by Maureen Monterubio
Maureen Monterubio is a theater and film director based in New York City. She Her work has been produced by The Araca Project (Off-Broadway), Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival, United Solo Festival, Manhattan Theatre Club, Field Trip Theatre, Source Festival, and The Kennedy Center. Maureen is making her writing debut in the short film, Emma On The Roof premiering Fall 2018. She is currently developed a new play Voyagers based on the NASA mission of the same name.
Event Sponsor
Space for this event was sponsored in part by Sokoloff Arts
Synopsis
In Aleppo two American Army Rangers rescue an injured Syrian woman about to give birth. At a nearby hospital, a neonatal nurse with an unwavering sense of duty struggles to save the lives of infants as her hospital is bombed.
Cast
Sulekha Ebelle (Qamar)
Sulekha is an actress, producer, writer and proud Bollywood Texan who can two-step as well as she Bhangras. Born and raised in West Texas, Sulekha discovered her passion for acting after attending a summer program at Yale School of Drama and broke her parents heart when she transferred out of her economics major at UT Austin and headed west to study Theatre and Business Administration at Pepperdine University. Her television credits include featured roles on The Blacklist, Power, Brothers & Sisters, Scrubs and ER, as well as film roles alongside Nastassja Kinski, Kal Penn and Aaron Tveit. Sulekha recently shot the short film, The Last Round, coming out in the spring of 2015. She also produced the independent feature, Waking Dreams, with Navid Neghaban and Jamie Elman, as well as two short films which received praise on the festival circuit—including the prestigious Claremont Fairoud Festival in France.
Sean McIntyre (Connor)
New York credits include the recent Broadway run of Ayad Akhtar’s Junk at Lincoln Center, as well as World Premieres of Thomas Bradshaw’s Job (Job), Sean Graney’s These Seven Sicknesses (Agememnon), Rob Askins’ True Bible Tales (King Saul), Olivia Dufault’s Starwatch (Wallace), among many others. Regional credits include Junk (La Jolla Playhouse), Waiting for Lefty (Ubuntu), Manuscript and The Ruby Sunrise (The Theater Project). He is a cofounder and instructor at Performing Prose and has an MFA from UCSD as well as a BA from James Madison University.
Jo Mei (Ben)
Jo’s theater credits include Babette’s Feast (Off-broadway/ Portland Stage), Fingersmith (ART), World of Extreme Happiness (Manhattan Theatre Club), King of Hell’s Palace (Goodman Theatre) You For Me For You (Woolly Mammoth). Jo has developed new works at The Public Theater, MTC, Center Theatre Group, NYTW, Roundabout, Ma-Yi, and EST. TV credits include “Nicki”(Freeform), “Bones” (Fox) and “The Good Wife” (CBS). Jo stars in and co-wrote the award-winning film “A Picture of You”; other film credits include “Who We Are Now”, “A Bread Factory”, “Adult World”, “The Grief of Other”. Training: Juilliard. www.jomei.com
Sade Namei (Fatemah)
Sade Namei’s previous stage work includes Eve Ensler’s “Emotional Creature” at the Signature Theatre (NYC) and Berkeley Rep,
“Against The Hillside” at The O’Neill , “In The Line” at A.R.T. NY, “Mika” at The U.N., “Leaves of Grass” at The Cell, #Serials@theFlea, “United Front” (Primary Stages), and her one-woman show “In Medias Res” at the Brick Theater. She has also performed at the Argentinian Consulate and The Asia Society among others. Films: Subways, Fatima, and The Elegant Clockwork of the Universe. She works as a TV/film Farsi translator/dialect coach on The Blacklist, Madam Secretary, Limitless, Mr. Robot, and Homeland. She also enjoys creating characters and putting them on Instagram, YouTube and etc.
Keivon Akbari (Samir and Stage Directions)
Keivon Akbari is currently getting his BFA at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts through the Atlantic Acting School. He originally transferred from Saddleback College in Orange County, California. Keivon is known for roles like Man in American Jack, Iokanaan in Salome (Playwrights Horizons Theatre School), Charles in 76,000!!! (Atlantic Acting School) and Gaston in Beauty and the Beast (Saddleback College). He is also a classically trained concert pianist and can play 4 additional instruments. He would like to thank his family for their unconditional love and support.