Scott N Andrew

Refugee Rhapsody

2026

set

Refugee_Rhapsody-3 Refugee Rhapsody Rolling World Premiere By Yussef El Guindi

October 9 - 25, 2026 Carnegie Stage, 25 W. Main St., Carnegie

Presented by the Pittsburgh International Classical Theatre

Directed by Elizabeth Elias Huffman

Cast: Fouad – Hari Bhaskar; Sakinah – Milia Ayache; Jenny – Dominique Dobson Briggs; Emily – Erika Krenn; Richard/Waleed – Dionysius Akeem

Designers: Media Design – Scott Andrew, Lighting Design – Bob Steineck, Sound Design – Steve "Shapi" Shapiro, Scenic Design – Johnmichael Bohach

Refugee Rhapsody, a rolling world premiere by acclaimed playwright Yussef El Guindi, opens our 30th anniversary season. The play centers on a chance encounter between Emily, a wealthy heiress, and Sakinah and Fouad, an Arab American couple, and children of refugees, setting in motion a darkly comic examination of race, class, privilege, and desire. When a crime of passion disrupts their lives, Sakinah is evaluated by a pregnant mental health professional whose own marriage is under strain, and the unfolding case raises complex questions of motive and culpability.

Blending sharp humor with emotional depth and touches of magical realism, Refugee Rhapsody offers a timely and layered lens on contemporary American tensions around identity, belonging, and inherited privilege. As a rolling world premiere, the production connects our organization to a broader national conversation, staging the play in dialogue with other theatres developing the work across the country during its initial rollout.

Refugee Rhapsody, a new play by award-winning playwright Yussef El Guindi, is the 2025 recipient of the Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Citation of Excellence.

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Gallery

Multimedia installation with projected prison hallway on screens, furniture, and blue geometric floor patterns. Woman in dark blue shirt in profile, with a man's face projected large behind her looking up and right. Two actors on a stage with three screens: a cityscape, an African landscape, and a mystical portrait. Stage production with five actors, a clothing rack, and projected images of a Goodwill store on wooden panels. Two actors on stage with abstract art projections. Man in red dress gestures, woman in sequined dress sits opposite. Two figures in dark purple light, one in a pink dress and necklace, holding hands. Woman watching two large screens displaying abstract art in a room with a sofa, desk, and patterned rug. Two women on a stage with a backdrop of wooden panels and projected images, one seated and one gesturing while holding a book. Two women converse on a stage set with abstract art projections, modern furniture, and blue geometric floor patterns. A woman sits on a chair on a stage with a fetal ultrasound projected on a large screen behind her. Two women sit on striped boxes on a blue geometric floor, one holding papers, against a backdrop of cafe scenes and menus. A man stands center stage, smiling at a seated woman, both in casual clothes, against a backdrop of projected prison cells. Man in red suit on stage with geometric floor, looking right. Woman in black jumpsuit on a screen, left. Blue lighting. Two women on stage. One sits, writing on a clipboard, wearing a gray blazer. The other stands, looking up, in a blue jumpsuit. Two women, one in a dark jumpsuit, the other in a gray blazer, hold hands center stage with a projected backdrop of barred windows. Two people on a bench against a dark background: one in a red dress with hand to forehead, the other in a sparkly dress looking distressed. Two women in pink dresses on a dark stage; one faces away, the other looks up, adjusting a strap. Two actors on a stage set with a savanna painting and a tribal mask, a man in a robe and a woman in a suit. Two women on a stage set with abstract art, blue lights, and geometric patterns. One in a red dress, one in a sparkly dress. Woman in gray blazer at desk, hand on forehead, looking down at paper. Man in dark robe gestures, speaking. A woman in a floral dress laughs on stage, another woman sits behind her, abstract art on screens in the background. Woman with dark curly hair in a plaid blazer and white shirt, looking right with a tense expression, red and dark background. Two women, one in a polka dot top and the other in a black blazer, smiling and looking at each other in a dimly lit room. Woman in dark blue jumpsuit, lit by a spotlight, looking up with a worried expression against a dark background. Woman with messy dark hair and smudged makeup, wearing a dark blue jumpsuit, looks down with a pained expression against a blurred urban background. Two actors on stage, a man in a blue jacket yelling at a woman in a dark jumpsuit, with projected images of prison cells behind them. Two figures embrace on a dark stage, one in a backless red dress, the other in a sequined dress with a black glove.

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