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Draft:Sharifa Yasmin

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Sharifa Yasmin (formerly Sharifa Elkady) is a trans Egyptian American director and playwright.

As a playwright, Yasmin primarily writes stories focused on the intersection of Queer and Arab identities. Her plays have been produced at several theatres and festivals, and she has been published in Overheard, a collection of monologues by and for TNB2S+ artist, and The Methuen Drama Book of Trans Plays, the first anthology featuring plays exclusively written by trans playwrights and featuring trans characters.[1]

As a director, Yasmin has received honors such as being selected for the 2020 cohort of Eugene O’Neill National Directing Fellows and being the inaugural Recipient of the Barbara Whitman Award from the Stage Directors and Choreographers Union in 2021. She has also had directing fellowships at The Drama League, Manhattan Theatre Club, and Geva Theatre.

Early life and education

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Originally from Saudi Arabia, Yasmin moved to America when she was three years old, and spent most of her formative years in South Carolina.[2] She graduated cum laude from Winthrop University in 2014, where she earned a B.A. in theatre performance and a minor in Sociology.[3] In 2021, Yasmin began studying for her Master's of Fine Arts in Directing at Brown University as part of the 2024 cohort in the Brown/Trinity Rep MFA program.[4]

Career

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Directing

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In 2018-19, she was a Directing Apprentice in the Professional Training Company at Actor's Theatre Louisville, where she worked on the plays 3:59am, Same Time Same Place, Wigging Out, Xiaoyan, Camp Dan, Simple and Postmistress.[5]

In 2020, Yasmin was selected as a Directing Fellow at Hypokrit Theatre, where she served as the associate director on the New York premier of Charly Evon Simpson's play Jump, directed by Hypokrit Theater Company Artistic Director Arpita Mukherjee.[6] In June of 2020, she directed a Zoom production at the National Queer Theater of the play Mosque4Mosque written by Omer Abbas Salem.[7]

In addition to her lead directing work, she has acted as assistant director to artists such as Pirronne Yousefzadeh, Steve H. Broadnax III, Saheem Ali, Mark Brokaw, Arpita Mukherjee, and Meredith Mcdonough.[8]

She currently serves as a member of The Drama League's Directors Council.[9]

Playwriting

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Sharifa Yasmin is the author of The Devils Between Us, Bone by Bone, Lilith's Tears, and Close to Home, many of which have been published on The National New Play Network's New Play Exchange.[10] Her plays have been produced by Amphibian Stage, Mirrorbox Theatre, and Uprising Theatre, as well as at the Trans Theatre Fest and the Women’s Theatre Festival.[11]

In 2021, her play "The Devils Between Us" was included in the The Methuen Drama Book of Trans Plays anthology; edited by Lindsey Mantoan, Angela Farr Schiller and Leanna Keyes, and published by Bloomsbury Publishing under the imprint Methuen Drama.[12] The Methuen Drama Book of Trans Plays, is the first anthology of exclusively trans plays and was selected as a finalist for the 34th Lambda Literary Award for Anthology.

For the inaugural Breaking the Binary Theatre Festival in October 2022, Yasmin was commissioned to write a monologue inspired by the prompt "overheard on a patio" for an evening co-conceived by L Morgan Lee and George Strus titled OVERHEARD, which also included plays from playwrights A.A. Brenner, Victor I. Cazares, Mashuq Mushtaq Deen, Kaela Mei-Shing Garvin, Isaac Gómez, Sam Hamashima, Bianca Leigh, Azure D. Osborne-Lee, Sylvan Oswald, travis l. tate, UGBA, Else Went, and Liqing Xu.[13] This collection was later published by Dramatists Play Service.[13]

Her play, Close to Home was produced as part of The Playwright's Foundation's Bay Area Playwrights Festival in 2022, and was directed by Evren Odcikin.[11] It was also distinguished by the American Theatre Wing at their annual Antoinette Gala, and well as being recently included on the 2023 Kilroy’s List.[1]

Other

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Yasmin's short film, Blinding, is in development with the Antiviral Film Project a project focused on stories about the global impact of COVID-19.[14]

Awards, nominations and honors

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Publications

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  • "Pick Me Girl" in Overheard[16]
  • "The Devils Between Us" in The Methuen Drama Book of Trans Plays[12]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Sharifa Yazmeen | Wittenberg University". www.wittenberg.edu. Retrieved 2024-11-26.
  2. ^ Elkady, Sharifa (12th April 2019). "Ask A Director". Tumblr. Retrieved 22nd November 2024. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |access-date= and |date= (help)
  3. ^ a b Editors, American Theatre (2020-07-30). "2020 National Directors Fellowships Announced". AMERICAN THEATRE. Retrieved 2024-11-26. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  4. ^ "Sharifa Yasmin – Trinity Repertory Company". www.trinityrep.com. Retrieved 2024-11-26.
  5. ^ "Sharifa Elkady | Actors Theatre". www.actorstheatre.org. Retrieved 2024-11-26.
  6. ^ Clement, Olivia (7th February 2020). "Charly Evon Simpson's Jump Begins at Astoria Performing Arts Center". Playbill. Retrieved 22nd November 2024. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |access-date= and |date= (help)
  7. ^ "Reading of Mosque4Mosque with talkback, moderated by Sharifa Yasmin". Dixon Place. Retrieved 2024-11-26.
  8. ^ "Resume". Sharifa Yazmeen. Retrieved 2024-11-26.
  9. ^ "Directors Council New - The Drama League". dramaleague.org. 2021-04-14. Retrieved 2024-11-26.
  10. ^ "Sharifa Yasmin | Playright". Sharifa Yazmeen. Retrieved 2024-11-26.
  11. ^ a b "Playwrights Foundation | Sharifa Yasmin". Retrieved 2024-11-26.
  12. ^ a b "The Methuen Drama Book of Trans Plays". Bloomsbury Publishing. Retrieved 22nd November 2024. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  13. ^ a b "Dramatists Play Service, Inc". www.dramatists.com. Retrieved 2024-11-26.
  14. ^ a b Editors, American Theatre (2021-04-28). "Sharifa Yasmin Awarded SDCF's Inaugural Barbara Whitman Award". AMERICAN THEATRE. Retrieved 2024-11-26. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  15. ^ Clement, Olivia (1st April 2019). "Drama League Welcomes 12 New Directing Fellows". Playbill. Retrieved 22nd November 2024. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |access-date= and |date= (help)
  16. ^ "Pick Me Girl | New Play Exchange". newplayexchange.org. Retrieved 2024-11-26.