Sensual | Thought-provoking | Enthralling
Things are looking up for Kayvon. He’s just married Baran, a beautiful young Iranian woman, and brought her back to his Bay Area home. But when he asks his lifelong friend Azar to tutor Baran, all three lives begin to unravel as the two women fall into a passionate love affair. A study of preconceived notions and the hypocrisies that drive them, The Tutor is a provocative look at the cost of owning one’s truth.
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Show length is about two hours plus one 15-minute intermission
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Fees included in all ticket prices.
World Premiere Commission Presented in Association with Golden Thread Productions
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- We’re so excited about partnering with Golden Thread Productions on this world premiere commission. The Tutor is written by Golden Thread’s Founding Artistic Director Emeritus, Torange Yeghiazarian and directed by the company’s current Executive Artistic Director, Sahar Assaf.
- This play offers a refreshingly candid critique of the American Dream
- Audiences will get an intimate theatre experience with our Walker in-the-round staging
- You’ll be captivated by these three beautifully complex characters that defy all expectations and are full of surprises
“Powerful intimate ride that never lets up” – Stage and Cinema
“Delivers a masterclass in palpable psychological storytelling…provocative, fiercely entertaining world premiere” – Bay Area Reporter
“Thought-provoking play that grabs our attention and holds on” – Front Row Review
“Exemplifies the fine art of reversal…epitomize the joys of up-close acting. The Tutor is relentless, lancing every pretension, unmasking every secret” – San Francisco Chronicle
“A hold-your-breath must-see…gripping, gusty world premiere” – Theatre Eddys
“The intensity of the actors will grip you” – Theatrius
“Wonderfully fresh take on love triangles” – 48 Hills
“A fascinating exploration…[Torange] Yeghiazarian takes us inside a beautiful culture that has been tainted by years of enmity between our two nations” – Talkin’ Broadway
- Apr 5 – May 12, 2024: Full run
- Apr 5 – 12: Pay-what-you-wish Previews
- Apr 13: Opening Night
- Apr 17: Pre-show talk at 7pm with playwright Torange Yeghiazarian & NCTC Founding Artistic Director Ed Decker
- Apr 18: Enhanced Safety Performance
- April 19: Backgammon Tutorial from the SF Backgammon Club Pre-show
- Apr 21: Post-Show Discussion with Cast and Director
- May 9: Pre-show talk at 7pm with playwright Torange Yeghiazarian & director Sahar Assaf
Torange Yeghiazarian (Playwright, pronouns: she/her) founded Golden Thread Productions in 1996 and served as its Executive Artistic Director for twenty-five years. She received a Gerbode-Hewlett Playwright Commission Award for Isfahan Blues and a commission from the Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California to write and direct The Fifth String – Ziryab’s Passage To Cordoba. Other plays include 444 Days, Waves, Behind Glass Windows, Dawn At Midnight, Abaga, Thanksgiving At Khodabakhshian’s, Publicly Resting, and Call Me Mehdi, included in the anthology Salaam. Peace – An Anthology of Middle Eastern-American Drama (TCG, 2009).
Sahar Assaf (Director, pronouns: she/her) is a Lebanese theatre-maker and the Executive Artistic Director of Golden Thread Productions. Sahar’s directing portfolio is eclectic, encompassing a wide range of theatrical styles, cultural influences, and social themes. Recently for Golden Thread, she directed Drowning in Cairo by Adam Ashraf Elsayigh and Stamp Me by Yussef El Guindi. For the Theater Initiative at the American University of Beirut, she directed works by Garcia-Lorca, Shakespeare, Wannous, Mahfouz, and others in addition to site-specific, devised, immersive, and documentary plays addressing pressing social and political issues. She has presented works in the Arab World, Europe, and the U.S. and has authored articles in Arab Stages, PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art, and chapters in books, including Theatre in the Middle East between Performance and Politics, edited by Babak Rahimi, Anthem Press, 2020, and The Theatre of Sa’dallah Wannous, edited by Sonja Mejcher-Atassi and Robert Myers, Cambridge University Press, 2021. Sahar is a recipient of the Fulbright scholarship and holds an MA in Theatre Studies from Central Washington University and an MA in Sociology from the American University of Beirut. She is an alumna of Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab in NYC (2014) and of Directors Lab North in Toronto (2017). She is a co-founder and the Artistic Director of Directors Lab Mediterranean. She is mostly proud of her role as a mother to Zad.
Season Producers: Michael Golden & Michael Levy, Robert Holgate, Lowell Kimble, Ted Tucker
Executive Producers: William Gregory, Jorge Hernández & Ron Jenkins