In the Crossing by Leila Buck at Studio Theatre

You're invited to attend a free reading of IN THE CROSSING by Leila Buck on Monday May 12th at 7:30pm present by Busboys and Poets, the reading will take place at the Studio Theatre's Mead Theatre.

Directed by Shana Gold, IN THE CROSSING was originally developed with Shana Gold, Yuval Boim, Adam Green, Kathryn Grody, Lameece Issaq and Maya Serhan. This reading will feature Adam Abel, Leila Buck, Sara Buffamanti and Kathryn Kates.

No reservations required, click here to learn more.

In 2006, as Lebanese-American writer/performer Leila Buck was introducing her Jewish husband Adam to her family in Lebanon, war erupted between Israel and Hezbollah, and the couple found themselves caught in the crossfire. Now, several years and a trip to Israel later, they've been asked by Adam's aunt to share their experiences at a conference of the "Society for Intercultural Dialogue and Education." And you're invited to join them. 

Blurring the line between truth and fiction, theater and town hall, In The Crossing is an edge-of-your-seat live experience that probes the messy intersections of family and politics—the boundaries between us, and what happens when we choose to cross them.

IN THE CROSSING has been developed with/at The Public Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, Lark Play Development Center, and Culture Project's Women Center Stage.

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Playwright's Notes

"In The Crossing began as a series of urgent emails written between air strikes that summer to friends and colleagues about what my husband and I were witnessing on the ground in Lebanon - a point of view less widely seen in American media coverage of the conflict. Upon returning to New York, I began crafting a solo storytelling performance about our experience, doing readings across the U.S. with support from the Public Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, Epic, the Lark, Theater J, Queens Theatre in the Park, and a host of conferences and cultural centers from the Brooklyn Museum to Chautauqua Institution, which culminated in a mini-run with Culture Project’s Women Center Stage.

In the talkbacks that followed each reading, I quickly realized that the most palpable conflict in the room was that amongst the audience about how I should tell this story – whether it was fair, biased, or even irresponsible - and the questions this raised for me as a playwright and performer.  So I decided to write that journey into the play – adding other actors to represent these dissenting voices and my own struggle amidst them to find and hold my own truth.  Through a unique and constantly evolving structure that combines storytelling, dramatic scenes, and structured improvisation, the audience is invited to become the fifth character in the play, whose responses, questions, and participation help shape a continually evolving journey. 

What I love most about theater – the thing that makes it so unique, and powerful, and bold- is the fact that performer and audience are in the same space, at the same time, together, sharing all the discomfort and danger, beauty and possibility of that interaction.  Live performance is a precious space particularly in these virtual times.  It helps you connect in a different way, and allows for a dialogue that must go both ways.  

So this play is an invitation:  To listen to a story you may not have heard, from several perspectives; to speak up, whatever your perspective, and share your own; and to explore the ripples of that dialogue to more peaceful resolution of conflicts in living rooms and situation rooms around the world." -- Leila Buck

About the Playwright

Leila Buck is a Lebanese American writer, performer and teaching artist.  Her award-winning solo show, ISite, toured the U.S., Europe and China for more than ten years, and is published in Four Arab American Plays.  Her shorter plays include ONE, performed for Epic Theatre Center alongside works by Craig Lucas, Neil LaBute, and Tony Kushner.  Her acting credits include the off-Broadway run and international tour of AFTERMATH (NYTW - Drama League nomination) and the Wilma Theatre production of SCORCHED (Barrymore Award).  Her theatrical work has been featured in The New York Times and American Theatre magazine, and in Etching Our Own Image: Voices from the Arab American Art Movement. In 2014-15 she will be artist-in-residence at Wesleyan University through Doris Duke Foundation’s Building Bridges grant. Leila holds a Master's in Educational Theatre and Middle East Studies from NYU.   She is a member of the Emerging Writers Group at the Public Theater and a Usual Suspect with New York Theatre Workshop, and is currently performing in THE ADMISSION, now through May 18th at Studio Theatre. Click here to learn more.

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