Theater News

Palestinian Epic The Vagrant Trilogy at Public Theater Announces Cast

Mona Mansour’s play explores alternate realities based on the choices we make.

Nadine Malouf and Tala Ashe will appear in Mona Mansour's The Vagrant Trilogy at the Public Theater.
Nadine Malouf and Tala Ashe will appear in Mona Mansour's The Vagrant Trilogy at the Public Theater.
(© Tricia Baron / Allison Stock)

Casting has been announced for the New York premiere of Mona Mansour's The Vagrant Trilogy, which is set to begin performances at the Public Theater on April 8 ahead of an official opening night on April 25. Performances are scheduled through May 8.

Described in press materials as, "a single epic story told in three parts," The Vagrant Trilogy tells the following story: "In 1967, Adham, a Palestinian Wordsworth scholar, goes to London with his new wife to deliver a lecture. When war breaks out at home, he must decide in an instant what to do—a choice that will affect the rest of his life. The two parts that follow explore alternate realities based on that decision. Each part in the trilogy speaks to the others, together painting a rare and moving picture of Palestinian displacement and a refugee's life of permanent impermanence. Featuring 8 actors in 19 different roles, Mansour's drama spans four decades and three generations of a family uprooted by war and politics."

Those 8 actors are Bassam Abdelfattah (Adham/Jul Understudy), Tala Ashe (Abir and Others), Caitlin Nasema Cassidy (Abir/Jamila Understudy), Ramsey Faragallah (Ghassan and Others), Osh Ghanimah (Hamzi and Others), Nadine Malouf (Jamila and Others), Rudy Roushdi (Jul and Others), and Hadi Tabbal (Adham). Obie winner Mark Wing-Davey directs.

Mark Wing-Davey is the director of The Vagrant Trilogy.
Mark Wing-Davey is the director of The Vagrant Trilogy.
(© David Gordon)

The Vagrant Trilogy was originally scheduled as part of the Public's 2020 spring season, but the Covid shutdown hit just five days before the first performance.

"It was incredibly frustrating to be just days away from presenting the piece to the public when the pandemic hit," said Wing-Davey. "It is, though, wonderfully gratifying that we have managed to retain the original cast, in no small part due to their own sense of community fostered throughout lockdown with weekly poetry meetings on Zoom. We can't wait to get started again."

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