Twenty One Positions: A Cartographic Dream of the Middle East

Abdelfattah Abusrour is from Bethlehem-Palestine. He co-wrote SALUT C'EST NOUS and NOURRIR DE FAIM in France. He wrote and directed WAITING FOR THE RAIN, TENT, THE ORPHAN, WE ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE CAMP, BLAME THE WOLF, HANDALA. His short play FAR AWAY FROM A VILLAGE CLOSE BY won first prize in the Deir Yassin Remembered Festival-London in 2006. He performed in and directed many plays. In 2014, he directed THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK for Burning Coal Theatre in NC, USA, and Samah Sabawi's play TALES OF A CITY BY THE SEA for Alrowwad Theatre. Abusrour has a PhD in Biological and Medical Engineering, is a recipient of the first Ashoka Fellowship in Palestine, and Synergos Social Innovator Award. He is Founder and Director of Alrowwad Cultural and Theatre Society and elected President of Palestinian Theatre League from 2009–2013.

Lisa Schlesinger is a recipient of the NEA/TCG Playwrights Residency Award, winner of the BBC International Playwriting Competition and a nominee for a USA Artist Fellowship. Her plays include IN THE WAKE OF THE GRAYBOW RIOTS, CELESTIAL BODIES, WAL-MARTYRS, SAME EGG, MANNY AND CHICKEN, ROCK ENDS AHEAD, and THE BONES OF DANNY WINSTON. She is currently writing a libretto, Harmonicus Mundi, the second work in the Celestial Bodies Trilogy. Lisa's work has been published in The New York Times, American Theater and Performing Arts Journal.

Naomi Wallace is a playwright from Kentucky. Her plays — which have been produced in the United Kingdom, Europe, the United States, and the Middle East — include IN THE HEART OF AMERICA, SLAUGHTER CITY, ONE FLEA SPARE, THE TRESTLE AT POPE LICK CREEK, THINGS OF DRY HOURS, THE FEVER CHART: THREE VISION OF THE MIDDLE EAST, AND I AND SILENCE, THE HARD WEATHER BOATING PARTY, THE LIQUID PLAIN. Her stage adaptation of William Wharton's novel Birdy was produced on the West End in London. In 2009, ONE FLEA SPARE was incorporated in the permanent repertoire of the French National Theater, the Comédie- Francaise. Only two American playwrights have been added to La Comédie's repertoire in 300 years. Films: Lawn Dogs, The War Boys, Flying Blind (co-written with Bruce McLeod). Awards: Susan Smith Blackburn Prize (twice), Joseph Kesselring Prize, Fellowship of Southern Writers Drama Award, Obie Award, and the 2012 Horton Foote Award for most promising new American play. She is also a recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship and a National Endowment for the Arts development grant. In 2013, Wallace received the inaugural Windham Campbell prize for drama and in 2015, an Arts and Letters Award in Literature.