DRAFT
March 24, 2015
LAGUARDIA PERFORMING ARTS CENTER PRESENTS WORLD
PREMIERE OF BEYOND SACRED: VOICES OF MUSLIM IDENTITY BY
PING CHONG + COMPANY, APRIL 29-MAY 9
Interview-Based Theatre Production Explores Diverse Experience of a Post 9/11
Generation of Muslim New Yorkers
Beyond Sacred: Voices of Muslim Identity (world premiere)
Ping Chong + Company
Written by Ping Cong and Sara Zatz, with Ryan Conarro
Directed by Ping Chong
April 29 - May 2, and May 7-9 at 8:00pm, April 30, May 1, and 7 at 2:30pm
LaGuardia Performing Arts Center (31-10 Thomson Ave. Long Island City)
lpac.nyc; 718.482.5151; $25 ($20 student, senior)
LaGuardia Performing Arts Center (LPAC), an emerging destination for diverse international work, is
pleased to present the world premiere of Beyond Sacred: Voices of Muslim Identity (April 29-May 9) by Ping
Chong + Company. Beyond Sacred is an interview-based theatre production that explores the diverse
experiences of young Muslim New Yorkers. The production is the centerpiece of LPAC’s yearlong
initiative Beyond Sacred: Unthinking Muslim Identity, an interdisciplinary project that aims to illuminate the
experience of culturally identified Muslims who have come of age in post-9/11 New York.
Performances of Beyond Sacred: Voices of Muslim Identity will take place April 29–May 9 (see above
schedule) at LaGuardia Performing Arts Center (31-10 Thomson Ave. Long Island City, NY). Critics are
welcome as of the first performance on Wednesday April 29 for an official opening Sunday May
3. Tickets are $25 ($20 Student and Senior) and can be purchased at lpac.nyc or by calling 718.482. 5151.
Ping Chong + Company created Beyond Sacred: Voices of Muslim Identity with five young New Yorkers who
self-identify as Muslim and perform the work: Amir Khafagy, a student activist at Queens College, Maha
Syed, a recent graduate of Columbia University with a masters in International Affairs; Ferdous
Dehqan whoimmigrated to America from Afghanistan in 2013 at the age of 18; Kadin Herring originally from
South Carolina, his father came to Islam through Malcolm X and Nation of Islam, converting in the 70s, and his
mother is Baptist; and Tiffany Yasmin Abdelghani who grew up in Florida. Her family is from Trinidad. She
was raised Christian, and converted to Islam in her mid-20s.
Beyond Sacred was created using Ping Chong + Company’s Undesirable Elements methodology. Conceived by
Chong, Undesirable Elements is an open framework that can be brought to any community and tailored to suit
the needs and issues facing that community. Each production is made with a host organization based in the local
321 D EAN STREET, #5 BROOKLYN, NY 11217 p 718.643.9052 www.blakezidell.com
community, with local participants testifying to their real lives and experiences. Since 1992, under the rubric of
its Undesirable Elements series, the beloved Ping Chong + Company has created over 50 deeply moving theater
productions that give voice to specific communities. In the creation of each piece, local participants testify to
their real lives and experiences, often for the first time. Scripts are based on interviews with these participants,
who then tell their stories in the final production.
The five participants in Beyond Sacred vary in many ways, but share the common experience of coming of age
in a post-9/11 New York City, at a time of increasing Islamophobia. Participants come from a range of cultural
and ethnic backgrounds and include men and women that reflect a wide range of Muslim identities, including
those who have converted to Islam, those who were raised Muslim, but have since left the faith, those who
identify as “secular” or “culturally” Muslim, and those who are observant on a daily basis. The goal of Beyond
Sacred is to illuminate daily experiences of Muslim new Yorkers, and work towards greater communication and
understanding between Muslim and non-Muslim communities in NYC.
The Beyond Sacred season will be an exploration of Muslim identity through the lens of music, theatre, and
dance that will facilitate an open dialogue between Muslim and non-Muslim communities, and will challenge
the assumptions of group identity. Through Beyond Sacred: Unthinking Muslim Identity, LPAC will further its
goal of incorporating pertinent social justice work into its multidisciplinary arts programming.
LPAC is just one of six college and university arts presenters, and the only community college presenter, to
receive funding to carry out community projects that expand awareness of Muslim arts and culture. Beyond
Sacred: Unthinking Muslim Identity is made possible by the Building Bridges: Campus Community
Engagement grant from of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP) funded by the Doris Duke
Charitable Foundation and the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art.
Ping Chong + Company produces theatrical works addressing the important cultural and civic issues of our
times, striving to reach the widest audiences with the greatest level of artistic innovation and social integrity.
The company was founded in 1975 by leading theatrical innovator Ping Chong with a mission to create works
of theater and art that explore the intersections of race, culture, history, art, media and technology in the modern
world. Today, Ping Chong + Company produces original works by a close-knit ensemble of affiliated artists,
under the artistic leadership of Ping Chong. Productions range from intimate oral history projects to grand scale
cinematic multidisciplinary productions featuring puppets, performers, and full music and projection scores.
The art reveals beauty, precision, and a commitment to social justice.
About the Performers
Amir Khafagy is a student at Queens College in Urban Studies. He was born and raised in Jackson Heights,
Queens. His father is Egyptian and his mother is Puerto Rican, and converted to Islam after he was born. He has
been active in Occupy Wall Street and other progressive causes.Maha Syed is a recent graduate of Columbia
University with an masters in International Affairs (MIA) with a focus in human rights and gender policy in
South Asia. She is Pakistani American, and she was born in Kuwait and grew up in in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia,
UAE, Qatar, and the United States (where she went to high school and college). She has also lived in/spent time
in China, the Dominican Republic (as a peace corps volunteer), and Pakistan. After Hurricane Sandy, she
worked as an outreach worker for immigrant disaster victims in Brighton Beach.Ferdous Dehqan was born and
raised in Afghanistan. He came to the US in 2013 at the age of 18, and is now a student at LaGuardia
Community College, where he is studying accounting.
Kadin Herring grew up in Greenville, South Carolina and came to New York to attend the New School. He
also lived for two years as a student in France. His father came to Islam through Malcolm X and Nation of
Islam, converting in the 1970s, his mother is Baptist.
321 D EAN STREET, #5 BROOKLYN, NY 11217 p 718.643.9052 www.blakezidell.com
Tiffany Yasmin Abdelghani grew up in Florida. Her family is from Trinidad. She was raised Christian, and
converted to Islam in her mid-20s. However, she has Muslim ancestry on both her mother and her father’s sides.
She is a current student at LaGuardia Community College.
About LPAC
LPAC is a cultural “bridge” and integral part of LaGuardia Community College, located in the most culturally
diverse urban area in the world, Queens, NY. LPAC has a long and respected history of engaging, presenting,
and producing new artistic work by diverse, international artists. The organization has evolved into a destination
for high quality theatre, dance, and performing arts from emerging artists who are transforming the international
arts community. For example, in 2012, LPAC presented the New York theatre premiere of “For Rent”, by
acclaimed Turkish playwright Ozen Yula, a work that was banned in Turkey and which was translated into
English for its LPAC run. LPAC recently completed its pilot Rough Draft Festival, a showcase of compelling
new artistic work-in-progress by LPAC and other companies. The Rough Draft Festival’s ongoing activities are
being informed by a cultural exchange with Turkish Theatre Company VDST’s New Text New Theatre Project.
The following are just a few of the many international artists produced and/or presented by LPAC within the
last five years: PCC, Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre, Ozen Yula, Anoushka Shankar, Sanaz Gharrjam, Pasha Dance
(World Premiere), Albita, Carmen Consoli, Latif Bolat, D-Camerino, Alper Yimaz, Eldar, Luis Garay,
Alejandro Caceres, Discanto, Tejas Luminous, Ayca Damgaci, Ayhan Aktas, Zishan Ugurlu, Alper Yilmaz, Ye
Taik, Juri Nishio, Saviana Stanescu, Maja Milanovich, Ana Margineanu, Aktina Stathaki, Guillermo Ortega
Tanus, and many others. To further its artistic mission, LPAC has partnered with some of the most prestigious
international cultural venues that are located in NYC to present and produce new works including: Carnegie
Hall, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), The Public Theater, The Chocolate Factory Theatre, Ballet
Hispanico, Flux Factory, NYC Opera, Queens Theatre in the Park, and Queens Council on the Arts among
many others.
For more information, please contact Blake Zidell, John Wyszniewski or Emily Reilly at
Blake Zidell &
Associates, 718.643.9052, blake@blakezidell.com, john@blakezidell.com or emily@blakezidell.com.
321 D EAN STREET, #5 BROOKLYN, NY 11217 p 718.643.9052 www.blakezidell.com