Mona Mansour's UNSEEN To Be Featured As Geva's Plays In Progress

Geva Theatre Center unveils the play chosen for Plays in Progress 2019 to be held in the Fielding Stage at 7pm on February 25. Plays in Progress are vibrant and innovative plays by some of the most exciting playwrights working today. Through Geva's Plays in Progress program, writers can hear their work performed, discuss the play with the audience and then continue to work on the play to its next level.

Here is the play chosen for Plays in Progress 2019:

Unseen

By Mona Mansour

Directed by Evren Odcikin

Conflict photographer Mia wakes up in the Istanbul apartment of her on-again, off-again girlfriend after being found unconscious at the scene of a massacre she was photographing. Mia can't even remember being there, but she wired photos of the site hours before she was found. The two women resume their volatile push-pull relationship when Mia's well-meaning Californian mother arrives from the US, trying to help unravel what happened to her daughter.

Mona Mansour's play We Swim, We Talk, We Go to War, directed by Evren Odcikin, premiered at SF's Golden Thread in winter 2018. The Vagrant Trilogy was presented at Mosaic Theater in June 2018, directed by Mark Wing-Davey. Of the trilogy: The Hour of Feeling (dir. Wing-Davey) premiered at the Humana Festival at Actors Theatre of Louisville, and a new Arabic translation was presented at NYU Abu Dhabi, as part of its Arab Voices Festival in 2016. Urge for Going has had productions at The Public Theater (dir. Hal Brooks) and Golden Thread (dir. Odcikin). The Vagrant was commissioned by the Public and workshopped at the 2013 Sundance Theater Institute. The Way West was presented at Labyrinth (dir. Mimi O'Donnell); Village Theater (dir. Christina Myatt); Steppenwolf (dir. Amy Morton); and Marin Theatre Company (dir. Hayley Finn). Mona was a member of The Public Theater's Emerging Writers Group. With Tala Manassah she has written Falling Down the Stairs, an EST/Sloan commission. Their play Dressing is part of "Facing Our Truths: Short Plays About Trayvon, Race And Privilege," commissioned by the New Black Festival. TV credits include Queens Supreme and Dead Like Me. Commissions include Playwrights Horizons, Old Globe Theater, La Jolla Playhouse and Oregon Shakespeare Festival's "American Revolutions." She is the recipient of the 2012 Whiting Award. 2014 Middle East America Playwright Award, MacDowell Colony 2018.

The reading of Unseen is directed by Evren Odcikin and the cast features Erin Anderson, Linda Gehringer and Nicole Shalhoub.

"Geva Theatre Center is proud to participate in the life of this compelling new play," commented Geva's Literary Director and Resident Dramaturg, Jenni Werner. "Mona Mansour's writing has captivated our imaginations, and we're thrilled to share this story of strength and vulnerability with the Rochester community."

Unseen will be presented in an informal, script-in-hand performance format and will be followed by a discussion with the playwright. Plays in Progress 2019 is part of Geva Theatre Center's ongoing commitment to developing and producing new work for the American theatre.

Admission to the reading is free, but reservations are required. Due to the popularity of this event, patrons are limited to two tickets per person. Call the Geva Theatre Center Box Office at 585-232-Geva (4382) or visit www.gevatheatre.org for tickets. Play readings sell out quickly, but tickets often become available the night of the performance.

Founded in 1972, Geva Theatre Center is a not-for-profit, professional theatre company dedicated to creating and producing professional theatre productions, programs and services of a national standard. As Rochester's leading professional theatre, Geva Theatre Center is the most attended regional theatre in New York State, and one of the 25 most subscribed in the country, serving up to 160,000 patrons annually, including more than 16,000 students.

The 516-seat Elaine P. Wilson Stage is home to a wide variety of performances, from musicals to American and world classics. The 180-seat Ron & Donna Fielding Stage is home to Geva's own series of contemporary drama, comedy and musical theatre; Geva's New Play Reading Series and the Hornets' Nest - an innovative play-reading series facilitating community-wide discussion on controversial topics. In addition, the Fielding Stage hosts visiting companies of both local and international renown.

Geva Theatre Center offers a wide variety of educational, outreach and literary programs, nurturing audiences and artists alike. Since 1995, the organization has been under the artistic direction of Mark Cuddy.