IDEA Council: MENA Writers Panel

IDEA Council
MENA Writers Panel 
Tuesday, April 30
6:30pm - 9:00pm
Room 759

Join three writers for a discussion of their work across media, and their experiences connecting with audiences, collaborators and institutions moderated by faculty member Salma Zohdi.

Panelists include Fouad Dakwar, Adam Ashraf Elsayigh, and Mona Mansour.

Fouad Dakwar is a Palestinian musical theater writer and Jonathan Larson Grant finalist whom Playbill aptly describes as "a darkly comic pop-punk composer on the rise." His semi-autobiographical musical, 'Fouad of Nazareth,' premiered at Joe’s Pub to two sold-out concert fundraisers for the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund followed by a 29-hour industry reading as part of Noor Theatre’s Highlight Reading Series.

In addition to his writing career, Fouad is dedicated to supporting the next generation of artists as Assistant Director for the New York Youth Symphony’s Musical Theater Songwriting program and volunteer composer for the 52nd Street Project. 

Fouad received his Honors Bachelor’s degree in Music and Theater Composition at Swarthmore College and his Master's in Writing and Design for Musical Theater from Berklee NYC where he is currently a Postgraduate Fellow. You can follow Fouad on Instagram and TikTok (@notfouad) where his theatrically satirical content has garnered over 5 million likes and learn more about his work at FouadDakwar.com.

Adam Ashraf Elsayigh was born in Cairo, Egypt. When soon thereafter, his parents relocated the family to Dubai, Adam grew up in a religious Muslim household with American cable TV, going to a British school in a Gulf state where over 90% of the population were migrant workers. This upbringing at the cross-section of cultures is at the core of the artist Adam is.

Today, Adam is a theatermaker and writer of stage and screenplays about modern humans living across and between cultures. Adam’s plays (including Alaa: A Family Trilogy, Drowning in Cairo, Revelation, Memorial, and Jamestown/Williamsburg) have been developed and seen at New York Theater Workshop, The Lark, NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, The Alliance Theater, and Golden Thread Productions. Adam is an alum of the Laboratory for Global Performance at Georgetown University. He holds a BA in Theater History and Dramaturgy from NYU Abu Dhabi and an MFA in Playwriting from Brooklyn College.

Mona Mansour grew up in a Southern California suburb, the daughter of a Lebanese immigrant father and American mother from Seattle. Her play The Vagrant Trilogy, about three generations of a fictitious Palestinian family, made its NYC debut in 2022 at The Public. Along with Martyna Majok, she was awarded the 2023 Steinberg Prize for playwriting.

The IDEA Council is an ongoing forum for students, faculty, and staff to collectively discuss and address issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in our community, in conversation with Tisch's Office of Diversity. We host events, conversations and outings throughout the year. 

Led by faculty advisors Cusi Cram, MJ Kaufman, Electric Black, and Kristoffer Diaz.