Artist Interviews

In September 2024, A Knock on the Roof playwright and actress Khawla Ibraheem and Director Oliver Butler sat down with our Associate Artistic Director Aaron Malkin and our NYTW staff to talk more their relationship with NYTW, about their play and what they hope audiences take from it.

January 22, 2025 by NYTW

With an emotional sincerity and vivacious zing for life, Rotana Tarabzouni brings her own personal Palestinian heritage to the character of Fadwa in We Live in Cairo. Read through what Rotana thinks this show means for Arab representation going forward, as well as her own personal journey.

November 18, 2024 by Jose Soltes for HOLLYWOOD SOAPBOX

Brothers Daniel and Patrick Lazour, join Alison Stewart to discuss writing the music, lyrics, and book for We Live in Cairo. Actor Ali Louis Bourzgui, who stars as Amir, a kid who writes an anthem for the revolution, also joins for a sneak peek at the music!

November 15, 2024 by Alison Stewart for WNYC

Playwright and performer Nikki Massoud goes on a deep dive with the team of WE LIVE IN CAIRO, chronicling its journey over the course of more than ten years and exactly how staging Arab joy became a radical act for the creative team.

November 9, 2024 by Nikki Massoud for AMERICAN THEATRE

Brothers Daniel and Patrick Lazour have been creating We Live in Cairo for over ten years, and they finally believe they have figured out their story. “What it had to be is a story of six very specific characters, very real people, going through an overwhelming moment in history,” says Patrick. Read more of this intimate interview with the brothers and see what has changed in the many years of development.

November 1, 2024 by Linda Buchwald for THEATERMANIA

We recently sat down with Daniel & Patrick Lazour and director Taibi Magar to talk about We Live in Cairo, a project that’s been ten years in the making and will begin previews on October 9, 2024.

August 1, 2024 by NYTW

Playwright and performer Mona Pirnot and director Lucas Hnath sit down for a wide ranging conversation with Michael Paulson at The New York Times to discuss how sound plays a role in I Love You So Much I Could Die.

February 13, 2024 by Michael Paulson for THE NEW YORK TIMES

We are back! After a little winter hiatus, we sat down with playwright and performer Mona Pirnot of I Love You So Much I Could Die for a conversation with her good friend and Grammy-winning musician Will Butler (who will make his Broadway debut as the Music Director for Stereophonic this season)

January 18, 2024 by NYTW

Leigh Silverman is a busy director these days, but we are so glad she calls NYTW her home! In her chat with FORBES, Leigh talks everything from the creation of Merry Me and representation on stage, to walking into the workshop in 1996 as an intern during the original production of RENT.

November 3, 2023 by Jeryl Brunner for FORBES

Director Leigh Silverman and Playwright Hansol Jung sit down with Merryn Johns from INTO to talk lesbians, orgasms, and why Leigh’s North Star for Merry Me was The Muppet Show.

“Trailblazing director Leigh Silverman ably guides Hansol Jung’s play, which forgoes victimization, trauma, and tropes we have perhaps come to expect from female-centered theater. There is, however, lots of arch wordplay, simulated sex, and — as with the mannered conventions of Restoration comedy — reality flies out the window.”

November 2, 2023 by Merryn Johns for INTO