The committee

Zuhdi Boueri is a first-generation Arab American artist from Texas. Based in NYC, he works across theater, TV, and film, with an upcoming appearance in Office Romance (Netflix) starring Jennifer Lopez and Brett Goldstein. Past credits include The Other Two (HBO) and Here Today (Sony). Zuhdi currently serves as the Artistic Associate at Primary Stages, where he oversees the literary department, manages play submissions, and line-produces the annual Fresh Ink Reading Series. Previously, he was the Producing Artistic Associate at Classic Stage Company, where he helped produce Snow in Midsummer, Assassins, black odyssey, and the NYT Critic’s Pick A Man of No Importance. He teaches On-Camera Auditioning, Auditioning, and Shakespeare at NYU and The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute, and remains deeply committed to supporting a diverse artistic community through an inclusive and forward-thinking lens.

Caitlin Nasema Cassidy (she/her) is an award-winning actor, director, and producer. Caitlin makes visceral and poetic work that celebrates the natural world and uplifts SWANA narratives. She has toured nationally and internationally from Shakespeare’s Globe to the Spoleto Festival to The New York Times Climate Forward stage at COP. Recent work includes Show/Boat: A River at NYU Skirball with Under the Radar Festival, The Vagrant Trilogy at The Public Theater, and Ferry Tales at the Kennedy Center. She serves as Founding, Co-Artistic Director of LubDub Theatre Co. CaitlinNasemaCassidy.com / @CaitlinNasemaCassidy

Ghina Fawaz غِنى فواز is a Lebanese-American director, playwright, and artist. Her work blends art and activism, using folklore, ethnographic research, and creative resistance to amplify underrepresented voices. Past works include ألف ليلةوليلة (The Thousand and One Nights), a theatrical call to action blending folklore, poetry, puppetry, and traditional Hakawati storytelling to confront colonialism and celebrate global resilience; Antlers, developed through interviews with people from Southern Lebanon about their experiences with occupation, weaving oral histories into a fantastical theatrical journey through puppetry; a Three Sisters adaptation reimagining Chekhov’s Olga, Masha, and Irina as refugees trapped in an airport awaiting a flight to Moscow that never comes; and Watermelon Boy, developed in collaboration with Chaesong Kim and Anuka Sethi, weaves folktale and documentary theatre to tell the story of a boy living under occupation who, after eating the seed of a forbidden fruit, transforms into a watermelon. Fawaz has also directed new works by Meg Ledford (Conservation of Matter), Andrew Reid (Here, Time Feels So...), and Dacyl Acevedo (From One Token to Another).