DISGRACED is the story of a successful Muslim-American attorney who has renounced his religion and secured a coveted piece of the American Dream. Living high above Manhattan's Upper East Side, he and his artist wife host an intimate dinner party that is about to explode. Witty banter turns to vicious debate, and with each cocktail comes a startling new confession, painting an unforgettable portrait of our perception of race and religion.
Reviewing DISGRACED at LCT3 for The New York Times, Charles Isherwood wrote:
"This rollicking new play by Ayad Akhtar is a continuously engaging, vitally engaged play about thorny questions of identity and religion in the contemporary world. The dialogue bristles with wit and intelligence. Mr. Akhtar puts contemporary attitudes toward religion under a microscope, revealing how tenuous self-image can be for people born into one way of being who have embraced another."
Akhtar writes with insight and passion, raising every imaginable argument associated with the Islam debate in America. And while the play's second half is riveting, it's also somewhat contrived as the characters' motivations and actions sometime strain credibility. It is acted beautifully by a five-member ensemble featuring Hari Dhillon, Gretchen Mol, Josh Radnor, Karen Pittman and Danny Ashok as Amir's impulsive nephew. And under Kimberley Senior's bracing direction, get ready to gasp.
Issue-driven plays are thought to be relatively impervious to production vagaries. That's generally true of Akhtar's perhaps overly schematic play, which is constructed like a house of cards, its highly civilized human relationships in perfect harmony until someone breaks out of character and throws them all off balance...Some of the production alterations for Broadway are purely cosmetic. Being more elaborate, John Lee Beatty's set design of a stylish Manhattan apartment (a terrace!) and Jennifer Von Mayrhauser's fashionable costumes put more emphasis on the elegant life style of the characters. The new cast, including Josh Radnor as the curator, is perfectly satisfactory, but so was the original one that played in the smaller-scale production at Lincoln Center...But it must be said that replacing Aasif Mandvi...as Amir with Dhillon...puts a new perspective on the central character.
2012 | Off-Broadway |
Lincoln Center Theater LCT3 Production Off-Broadway |
2014 | Broadway |
Broadway Premiere Production Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2015 | Theatre World Awards | Theatre World Award | Karen Pittman |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Greenleaf Productions |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Ayad Akhtar |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Rachel Weinstein |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Alden Bergson |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Play | The David Merrick Arts Foundation |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Play | The Shubert Organization |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Jere Harris |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Darren DeVerna |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Play | TNTDynaMite Productions |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Ashley DeSimone |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Carl Levin |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Jonathan Reinis |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Jessica Genick |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Tulchin/Bartner Productions |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Stephanie P. McClelland |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Rodger Hess |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Richard Winkler |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Amanda Watkins |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Jenifer Evans |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Lincoln Center Theater |
2015 | Tony Awards | Best Play | The Araca Group |
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