BAZEED

they/them

Two Fun Facts About Bazeed: They attended Cairo University of Medicine for two months before dropping out, and they own more plants than pants.

In their words, how they were inspired to venture into the world of writing:
"People kept liking my Facebook posts and telling me I should be a writer, so then I tried it and they were right!"

Bio: Bazeed is a multi–award winning Egyptian immigrant, poet, playwright, performance artist, actor, editor, translator, curator, and cook, living in Brooklyn. An alliteration-leaning writer of prose, poetry, plays, and pantry lists, their work across genres has been published in print and online, and their plays performed in festivals on both sides of the Atlantic. Their first play, peace camp org, an autobiographical queer anti-Zionist musical(ish) comedy about summer camp, is published by Oberon Books, UK, and won Bazeed the Dramatists Guild’s Lanford Wilson Award for creative promise. In addition to Sisters at Sunrise, Bazeed is currently at work on their first novel, The Boy Made of Air, and on finishing up their third play, faggy faafi Cairo boy. To procrastinate from facing the blank page, Bazeed curates an occasional world-music salon and open mic in Brooklyn, and is a slow student of Arabic music.

About their Commissioned Piece: Sisters at Sunrise, orشهرزاد ودنيازاد في فجر قلعة السلطان, written in English and Arabic, centers the relationship between Scheherezade, the infamous, if equally mysterious storyteller of the 1,001 Arabian Nights; and her sister, Dunyazade, as they survive the necropalace of King Shahrayar, while the Arab Spring swells at its gates.

NIKKI MASSOUD

She/Her

Two Fun Facts About Nikki: She was a professional French tutor for two years. Her guilty pleasure is the Levain chocolate chip walnut cookie---especially when warm!

In her words, how she was inspired to venture into the world of writing:
"I was primarily an actor for seven years and got to work on regional productions all over the country. Because I was often in the room for new play development (especially at The Lark! RIP you are missed), I learned about process and collaboration from some amazing writers. I also learned about rhythm, how language feels in the body, and how a joke can land differently in Boston than in Berkeley. I still love performing and working on the work of other writers, but in the summer of 2020, I finally realized that no one else can or will write the things I want to write---so submitted the first twelve pages of my first play to a company called The Coop and three years later, here we are!"

Bio: Nikki Massoud is a writer and actor based in NYC. She is an Iranian-American immigrant, raised in Montreal, Canada and Washington, DC. Nikki is a Launch Commission writer for Atlantic Theater and her play CUT: A Blasphemy is included in the 2022-2023 digital season of Bard at the Gate. She was a recent finalist for SPACE at Ryder Farm, Ground Floor at Berkeley Rep, and the WP Playwrights Lab. Her stage credits as a performer include Wish You Were Here (Playwrights Horizons) and Othello (NYTW), as well as regional credits including The Old Globe, Berkeley Rep, and Huntington Theatre Company. Her TV credits include Succession (HBO), Love Life (HBO Max) and Madam Secretary (CBS.) Nikki has narrated over 40 audiobooks, currently available on Audible. She is a graduate of the Brown University/Trinity Rep MFA Acting Program, Georgetown University, and BADA (British-American Drama Academy.) She is represented by Emma Feiwel of WME and Michael Classon and Melisa Baloglu at Writ Large. Zan, Zendegi, Azadi. www.nikkimassoud.com

About her Commissioned Piece: A contemporary retelling of the 11th Century Persian legend of Zahak The Snake-Shouldered, He Who Has Ten Thousand Horses is about a family man who is tempted and transformed by power and asks what we are willing to sacrifice in the quest for control. The play explores new frontiers in health and wellness culture.

rona siddiqui

She/Her

Two Fun Facts About Rona: She was voted Most Spirited in middle school (she thinks she still has her cheerleading outfit somewhere). She dreams of opening a boba bar someday with signature alcohol-infused boba drinks.

In her words, how she was inspired to venture into the world of writing:
"I can't say what inspired me to write. It's like asking what inspires me to eat. It's always been something I do. Growing up it was just for myself because I was too scared to share anything. The inspiration to share is the more pertinent question: My family's love and encouragement, and ingesting works of art by everyone from Toni Morrison to Tori Amos. They showed me there were boxes to be broken out of. I'm still not all the way out of mine yet. Still working."

Bio: Rona Siddiqui is a composer/lyricist based in NYC. She is a recipient of the Jonathan Larson Grant and Billie Burke Ziegfeld award and was named one of Broadway Women's Fund's Women to Watch. Her show Salaam Medina: Tales of a Halfghan (dir. Raja Feather Kelly), is in development. Other musicals include One Good Day, Hip Hop Cinderella, and The Tin. She is the recipient of the ASCAP Harold Adamson Lyric Award, the ASCAP Foundation Mary Rodgers/Lorenz Hart Award and ASCAP Foundation/Max Dreyfus Scholarship. She has written pieces for Arena Stage, Keen Teens, Wicked's 16th anniversary commemoration Flying Free, 24 Hour Musicals, Prospect Theater Company, The Civilians, and has performed concerts of her work at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Feinstein's/54 Below. Rona received a Grammy nomination and Obie Award for her work as Music Director of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, A Strange Loop.

About her Commissioned Piece: UNTITLED is about a gay Mormon boy and a Muslim girl whose friendship grows as the tumult of high school life and religious pressures bear down on them. Through their love of music and each other, they seek the courage to stand up to their families and communities, and overcome their toxic circumstances.