N EW Y O R K T H E A T R E WORKSHOP Meet-the-Artists Brown Bag Lunch Presentation Tuesday, August 16 * Noon Warner Bentley Theater * FREE Meet the creators and directors of "The Alter-Ego of An American Assimilationist" and "Your Blues Ain't Sweet Like Mine" ************************Tickets on Sale at the Hop Box Office*************** THE ALTER-EGO OF AN AMERICAN ASSIMILATIONIST * AUGUST 20 * 5 PM Written & performed by Betty Shamieh * Directed by Lisa Peterson Playwright/performer's over-the-top Arab-American alter-ego takes on American culture and politics. About the show: Like Dr. Bruce Banner's exposure to gamma radiation led to the creation of the Incredible Hulk, playwright Betty Shamieh's exposure to toxic levels of gamma racism led to the creation of Baheeeya. This impulsive and emotional creature erupts when Shamieh is angered or frightened. Baheeeya's triggers include: the impotence of truly progressive movements in America, impotence in general, simplistic artistic depictions of Middle Eastern people, and the fact that single straight men in New York as a whole have not mastered the art and/or science of properly asking a person out on a date. Baheeeya had demanded her own performance art show/lecture/quasi-bellydancing extravaganza to explicate the importance of celebrating the monster within. BETTY SHAMIEH Playwright, Actor Betty Shamieh's off-Broadway premieres are The Black Eyed (New York Theatre Workshop) and Roar (The New Group). Her recent European productions in translation include Again and Against (Playhouse Theater, Stockholm), The Black Eyed (Theater Fournos, Athens), and Territories (2009 European Union Capital of Culture Festival). Her play, Free Radicals, is slated for production in Dutch translation at Het Zuidelijk Toneel in 2012. The Machine was produced by Naked Angels in 2007. Shamieh performed in her play, Chocolate in Heat, in three off-off-Broadway runs and over twenty university theatres. A graduate of Harvard College and the Yale School of Drama, she was a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts grant and selected as a Clifton Visiting Artist at Harvard in 2004. Shamieh was named as a Playwriting Fellow at Harvard University's Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies in 2006. She is currently a member of New Dramatists, a New York Theatre Workshop Usual Suspect, and an artist-in-residence at Here Arts Center. Shamieh recently was selected as a 2011 UNESCO Young Artist for Intercultural Dialogue. LISA PETERSON Director Lisa Peterson has directed world premieres by Donald Margulies, Tony Kushner, Beth Henley, Naomi Wallace, Chay Yew, Luis Alfaro, Culture Clash, Jane Anderson, David Henry Hwang, Stephen Belber, William Bolcom & Arnold Weinstein, Ellen McLaughlin, Marlane Meyer, Annie Weisman, Philip Gotanda, John Belluso, David Bucknam, Caryl Churchill, Janusz Glowacki, and many others at theaters including New York Theater Workshop, The Public, The Vineyard, MCC, MTC, Primary Stages, Guthrie, Actors Theater of Louisville, Arena Stage, Seattle Rep, Baltimore Center Stage, Hartford Stage, Long Wharf, Huntington, Yale Rep, Intiman, Berkeley Rep, Seattle Rep, McCarter, and more. She was Associate Director at La Jolla Playhouse for 3 years and Resident Director at Mark Taper Forum for 10 years. Lisa has developed new work at Sundance Theater Lab, O'Neill Playwrights Festival, Playwrights Center, New Dramatists, and the Royal Court. Graduate of Yale College. Member of EST and the executive board of SDC. **************** YOUR BLUES AIN'T LIKE MINE * AUGUST 20 * 8 PM Written and Directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson Work by actor/author of award-winning play and HBO movie Lackawanna Blues. About the show: What happens when four human beings, four decent human beings...very different human beings, come together to share an evening of dining and discussion? Where love, politics, race and history are on the menu? What if the discussion is spurred on by a desire for the unabashed truth and being politically correct is not part of the rules? These questions are what drive Your Blues Ain't Sweet Like Mine. A deeply poetic, loving, sometimes painful, sometimes funny but always provocative look into the smashing together of ideas, of people and their truths. This is an evening where we all would be fortunate to be a fly on the wall. RUBEN SANTIAGO HUDSON Playwright, Director Tony and Obie award-winning actor, Ruben Santiago-Hudson is also an accomplished writer and director. Santiago-Hudson costars as NYPD Captain Roy Montgomery on the hit ABC series, Castle. His screenplay debut Lackawanna Blues for HBO, received the Humanitas Prize, a Christopher Award, National Board of Review Honors, a NAACP Image Award; and Emmy, Golden Globe and WGA nominations. Lackawanna Blues was originally commissioned as a solo performance piece by the Public Theater/NY Shakespeare Festival under the artistic leadership of George C. Wolfe. Santiago-Hudson penned the play to pay homage to the woman who raised him in a boarding house in upstate New York. Ruben performed the play bringing to life over two dozen characters. Working with the Public Theatre again in the summer of 2010, Santiago-Hudson starred as King Leontes in Shakespeare in the Park's production of A Winter's Tale. On film Santiago-Hudson starred opposite Halle Berry in Their Eyes Were Watching God; Denzel Washington and Russell Crow in American Gangster; Demi Moore and Kevin Costner in Mr. Brooks; Samuel L. Jackson in Shaft; Al Pacino in Devil's Advocate; John Travolta in Domestic Disturbance; and Ricky Gervais in The Invention of Lying. On television he portrayed famed chemist Dr. Percy Julian in Forgotten Genius; starred opposite Gregory Hines in The Red Sneakers; his other feature films and mini-series include American Tragedy with Christopher Plummer; Solomon and Sheba with Jimmy Smits and Halle Berry -- the first time a biblical movie starred actors of color; and opposite Christopher Reeve in Rear Window. Other TV credits include a series regular role on Michael Hayes, recurring roles on The West Wing, Law & Order and numerous guest star appearances. Santiago-Hudson made his directorial debut with August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean at the McCarter Theater in Princeton and the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. Most recently Ruben directed the New York Premiere of Naomi Wallace's Things Of Dry Hours at the NY Theater Workshop. Other Directing credits include August Wilson's Radio Golf at The Kennedy Center in Washington DC. Wilson's Seven Guitars and Leslie Lee's The First Breeze of Summer for The Signature Theater Company, where Santiago-Hudson held the position of Associate Artist for the 2008-2009 season. Ruben made his Broadway acting debut in Jelly's Last Jam, opposite Gregory Hines. He originated the role of Canewell in Seven Guitars which earned him several awards including the prestigious Antoinette Perry (Tony) Award for Featured Actor in a Play. His most recent Broadway performance was as Caesar in Gem Of The Ocean, opposite Phylicia Rashad. Ruben's regional theater and off-Broadway credits span over 30 years. Santiago-Hudson received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Buffalo State College in 2006. He also holds a Master of Fine Arts from Wayne State University and an honorary Master's from A.C.T. in San Francisco, a Bachelor of Arts from SUNY Binghamton. Other Awards and honors include Outer Critics Circle, Dramalogue, Clarence Derwent, Glen G. Bartle Award from SUNY Binghamton, Distinguished Alumni Award from Wayne State University, two Audelco Awards, Black Filmmaker's Award, a N.A.M.I.C. Award and an HBO Comedy Arts Festival Theater Award. Santiago-Hudson received a NAACP Lifetime Achievement Theatre Award at the Los Angeles NAACP Theatre Awards in August 2009. Santiago-Hudson is the father of four wonderful children and says, "Of all of my accomplishments, the title I cherish most is that of Father and Husband."