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Season 6 Series: A creative conversation with Voices from A Changing Middle East Festival Artists

 
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John Vreeke is a company member at Woolly Mammoth and has directed in DC area theaters for the past 20 years.    His assignments include Tony Kushner’s Homebody/Kabul  and The Intelligent Homosexuals Guide to Socialism and Capitalism with a Key to the Scriptures, Rajiv Joseph’s Guards at the Taj and Gruesome Playground InjuriesDescribe the Night, Lisa D Amours DetroitThe Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity by Kris Diaz (which received nine Helen Hayes nominations), Sam Hunter’s A Bright New Boise, Peter Nachtrieb’s Boom.  His direction and adaptation of DH Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover, developed in Seattle with four separate productions, ran for six months in La and had two productions in DC.   He has six best director nominations with the Helen Hayes Awards society.  In a past life, he was an associate producer on the CBS TV series, Northern Exposure.

 
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Dina Soltan (She/Her/Hers) most recently appeared as Ada in Ada And The Engine with Avant BardShe also played Dhana in Dhana and the Rosebuds with Ally Theatre Company, a devised ensemble piece. Originally from England, she studied A Level Drama, where she then moved to Egypt and studied Theater. Eventually, she moved to Washington D.C where she attended and graduated The Honors Acting Conservatory at The Theater Lab (2016). Acting credits also include Or, (Theatre Prometheus), Reykjavik (Rorschach Theatre), A Woman of No Importance (Scena Theatre), The Vagrant Trilogy (Mosaic Theater Company of DC), Soldier Poet (Theatre Prometheus), Neverwhere (Rorschach Theatre), The Blind (The Wheel Theatre Company). 

 
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Nimrod Danishman is a theater director, playwright and teacher. He graduated the B.Ed. program in theater direction and teaching at Kibbutzim College in Tel Aviv. As part of his studies he co-wrote and co-directed “As a Matter of Fact” Cabaret, which performed regularly at Habima National Theater (2017). After graduating, he wrote and directed his first play “Borders” which performs regulary at Tzavta Theater and has been invited to perform around the world. The play was also performed in 2019 at the New York Theater Festival by Dirty Laundry Theater and the Israeli production earned two nominations for the Israeli Fringe Awards (Kipod Hazahav): Best Play and Best Actor. He directed the short play “Woman to Woman” by Roey Maliach Reshef as part of the Playwrights Project (2018), I am a co-director of the theater show “We Are No More Than This” by Gal Chapski at Tzavta Theater and co-creator of the documentary show “For Real” at Tmuna Theater (2019). Nimrod’s teach theater in high schools, design lighting for theater productions, he is an amateur photographer, news and documentary addict and love to travel.

 

Elan Zafir is a Canadian actor based in Washington, DC. He originated the role of Abaddon, in Olivier-nominated writer/director Yael Farber’s critically acclaimed adaptation of SALOME at Shakespeare Theatre Company, which garnered 7 Helen Hayes Awards including Best Ensemble. He played in Theresa Rebeck's comedy WAY OF THE WORLD opposite Kristine Nielsen.  Elan was cast by Mark Brokaw to play Nazari in the new play PAPER DOLLS which was developed through the Sundance Play Festival and the Public Theater. Elan was cast by Mark Wing-Davey to play Hamzi in Mona Mansour's THE VAGRANT TRILOGY which was developed through the Public Theater, and is a part of their 2019-2020 season. He will be a part of the official opening season of Simon Goodwin's first year as Artistic Director of The Shakespeare Theatre Company in the award winning play EVERYBODY by Brandon Jacob Jenkins. 

He graduated The Dome Professional Theatre Program of Montreal, and attended The Academy for Classical Acting University, under the tutelage of Michael Kahn, where he earned his MFA.

He wrote and performed in his one man show, The Unaccompanied Minor, which had its world premiere at the Asheville Fringe Festival, went on to perform at the prestigious Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and finally completed it's journey at the DC Fringe where Roger Catlin of The Washington Post called his play "A top pick of the fringe." Elan also studied improv at Upright Citizens Brigade, where he completed the rigorous program in just two years. Elan is an avid hiker and an amateur baker, who strongly believes his bagels are the second best in the city.