Ayad Akhtar was born in New
York City and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is a novelist and
author of American Dervish, published in over 20 languages worldwide.
His play Disgraced won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, ran on
Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre, and was nominated for the 2015 Tony
Award for Best Play. His plays The Who & The What and The Invisible
Hand received Off-Broadway runs and are currently being produced around
the world. Akhtar was listed as the most produced playwright for the
2015/16 Season by American Theatre magazine. As a screenwriter, he was
nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay for The
War Within. He has received fellowships from MacDowell, Djerassi, the
Sundance Institute, Ucross, and Yaddo, where he serves as a Board
Director. He is also a Board Trustee at PEN/America and New York Theatre
Workshop. Akhtar is currently the Resident Playwright with Arena Stage
at the Mead Center for American Theater. (Taken from the author's personal website)
Reading:
Ayad Akhtar, Disgraced: A Play, 5-32
Study Question:
1. Some key terms that are particular relevant to the first two scenes include: Assimilation, exoticism/Orientalism, hyper-visibility/erasure, prejudice, and tolerance. Select at least three of these terms and write a paragraph about how these ideas structure the budding conflict (agnon) of the play.
