WINNER OF THE 2013 PULITZER PRIZE FOR DRAMA
New York. Today. Corporate lawyer Amir Kapoor is happy, in love and about to land the biggest career promotion of his life.
But beneath the veneer, success has come at a price. When Amir and his artist wife, Emily, host an intimate dinner party at their Upper East Side apartment, what starts out as a friendly conversation soon escalates into something far more damaging.
The Bush Theatre production and UK premiere of Disgraced, the hit play about ambition, culture and faith which took US audiences by storm, provoked debate across the nation, and won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Disgraced was originally produced in January 2012 at the American Theater Company, Chicago, and was followed by a sell-out run at the Lincoln Center Theater 3, New York.
Ayad Akhtar was born in New York City and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is the author of American Dervish, published in 25 languages worldwide and a 2012 Best Book of the Year at Kirkus Reviews, Toronto’s Globe and Mail, Shelf-Awareness, and O (Oprah) Magazine. He is also a playwright and screenwriter. As a screenwriter, he was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay for The War Within. He has received commissions from Lincoln Center and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. He is a graduate of Brown and Columbia Universities with degrees in Theater and Film Directing. Disgraced is his debut play.
Jaimie’s previous designs at the Bush Theatre include Disgraced and Perseverance Drive.
Theatre design credits include: The Lady Goes To War, Fever Pitch, Blue Remembered Hills, The Alchemist (National Theatre) and Children Of Eden. He also designed a bi-lingual version of Tale Of Two Cities, which toured England and France; The Trestle At Pope Lick Creek, Pretend You Have Big Buildings, Christmas Is Miles Away and Things OF Dry Hours for Manchester Royal Exchange Theatre and Aces And Jacks for Guildhall at the Bridewell. Jaimie has completed five touring Shakespeare productions including Macbeth, Romeo And Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Tempest and Hamlet and seven productions for Y-Touring Theatre Company. Jaimie also designs for the Centrepoint Theatre in Dubai: Sweeney Todd, Cats, West Side Story, Hairspray. Other credits include Sticks And Stones, House Of Blue Leaves, Memory Of Water and Be My Baby. He continues to assist other designers on productions in the West End and abroad.
Credits for the Bush include The Royale (2015), Disgraced and Fear.
West End credits include Dance ‘til Dawn (Aldwych), Midnight Tango (Phoenix, Aldwych), Never Forget (Savoy), Storm in a Flower Vase (Arts Theatre), Footloose (Novello, Playhouse), Holding the Man (Trafalgar Studios), The Female of the Species (Vaudeville), Calamity Jane (Shaftesbury).
Other recent credits include Miss Julie / Black Comedy, A Marvellous Year for Plums, The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists, Wallenstein, Funny Girl, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, The Witches, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Alice in Wonderland and The Snow Queen (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Dumb Waiter (The Print Room), The Good Person of Sichuan (Mercury, Colchester), The Jungle Book (Citizens, Glasgow), Stroke of Luck (The Park), Bully Boy (St James, London and Royal, Northampton), April in Paris, The Odd Couple, Moonlight and Magnolias and Twelfth Night (Perth Theatre), A Christmas Carol, Arcadia, Grimm Tales and Gates of Gold (Library Theatre, Manchester), The Absence of Women (Lyric, Belfast), James and the Giant Peach (Birmingham Stage Company), A Voyage Round My Father (Salisbury Playhouse), Loves Labours Lost (Rose Theatre), Salonika (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Animal Farm (Bath Theatre Royal) and Monkee Business (Manchester Opera House). For Tall Stories credits include The Gruffalo, The Gruffalo’s Child, Room on the Broom, The Snail and the Whale, Emily Brown and the Thing and Snow White.
Nadia Fall trained at Goldsmiths College (MA Directing) and on the NT Studio’s Directors programme. Previous work at the Bush Theatre includes Disgraced. Directing credits include The Suicide, Our Country’s Good, Dara, Chewing Gum Dreams, Home, Hymn, The Doctor’s Dilemma (all National Theatre), Way Upstream (Chichester Festival Theatre), Hobson’s Choice (Regents Park Open Air Theatre), How Was it for You? (Unicorn Theatre), Sticks & Stones (Polka Theatre), The Maids (Lyric Hammersmith), Miss Julie (Croydon Warehouse Theatre), Wild Turkey (Site Specific).
She has directed at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the Unicorn Theatre and led participation initiatives with partners such as the Young Vic, Clean Break, Soho Theatre and the Royal Court. She is also an acting coach, supporting professional actors for film and stage.
Theatre work includes A Walk On Part (Soho Theatre), Some Girls, (Out of the Blue Productions), Macbeth (Almeida), Stuff Happens (National Theatre), World Music (DonmarWarehouse) and The Duchess of Malfi (RSC). For television, her work includes Holby Blue, Judge John
Deed, The Family Man, Vanity Fair and London’s Burning. For film, her work includes My Zinc Bed and The Golden Years.
Theatre work includes The Lakeboat/Prairie Du Chien (Arcola), All
Mouth (Menier Chocolate Factory), Double Cross (Richmond Theatre and No 1 Tour), Relative Values (No 1 Tour), Other People (Royal Court), The Cherry Orchard and Black Dahlia (Young Vic).
For television, his work includes Le Grand, En Pilgrims Dod, The Deep, Spooks, Gracie, Kingdom and Survivors. For film, his work includes Dark Shadows, Hamilton Trilogy, Knife Edge and Saving Private
Ryan.
Hari Dhillon plays Amir. His theatre work in the US includes Morbidity and Mortality, Drifting Elegant (Magic Theatre), and A Perfect Wedding (Mark Taper Forum); and in the UK, Mother Teresa is Dead and The Idiots for the Royal Court. For television, his credits include series regular Michael Spence in Holby City, and recurring roles in The Loop, Mr Nice Guy, Medium and Charmed; and for film, The Ground Beneath Her Feet, Cradle to the Grave, Lawless Heart, State of the Party and Entrapment.
