2016 Prize for Promising New American Play

The Profane by Zayd Dohrn

Raif Almedin is a first-generation immigrant who prides himself on his modern, enlightened views. But when his daughter falls for the son of a conservative Muslim family, he discovers the threshold of his tolerance.  In this sharp and timely tale, two families are forced to confront each other’s religious beliefs and cultural traditions, and to face their own deep-seated prejudice.

Bio:

Zayd Dohrn was born underground and raised in New York City. His plays include The Profane (Playwrights Horizons), Outside People (The Vineyard Theatre/Naked Angels), Want (Steppenwolf First Look), Sick (National New Play Network rolling world premiere), and Reborning (The Public/SPF). Awards include the Horton Foote New American Play Prize, the Edgerton Foundation New Play Award, the Kennedy Center’s Jean Kennedy Smith Award, the Sky Cooper American Playwriting Prize, Theatre Master’s Visionary Playwright Award, and Lincoln Center’s Lecomte du Nouy Prize. Zayd has written TV pilots for HBO, Showtime, and BBC America, and feature screenplays for Netflix and FilmNation. He attended Brown and Columbia Universities, received his MFA from NYU, and was a two-year Lila Acheson Wallace Fellow at Juilliard. He is currently a Professor and Director of the MFA in Writing for the Screen + Stage at Northwestern University. www.zayddohrn.com

World premiere of The Profane at Playwrights Horizons. Ali Reza Farahnakian and Babak Tafti. Photo by Joan Marcus.