Balancing Comedy and Drama as a MENA Playwright with Yussef El-Guindi & Leila Buck

As politicized ethnic groups, playwriting comes with a sense of responsibility and history for many MENA/SWANA writers. Balancing drama and comedy in plays that deal with MENA politics, identity, and history can be difficult but is also crucial in inviting audiences into our stories and addressing stereotypes and historical harm. Join two prominent playwrights and pillars of the MENA community, Yussef El-Guindi & Leila Buck, as we have an open conversation about how they approach their writing and reflect on what their work means in a greater societal context. Kunafa and Shay is a podcast produced for HowlRound Theatre Commons by co-hosts Nabra Nelson and Marina Johnson. Kunafa and Shay discusses and analyzes contemporary and historical Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) and Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) theatre from across the region. Kunafa and Shay highlights MENA/SWANA plays and theatremakers, spotlights community-engaged work in the region and diaspora, and analyzes the past, present, and future of MENA/SWANA theatre in the United States and beyond. Theatre artists and scholars Nabra Nelson and Marina Johnson bring their own perspectives, research, and special guests in order to start a dialogue and encourage further learning and discussion. The name, Kunafa and Shay, invites you into the discussion in the best way we know how: with complex and delicious sweets like kunafa, and perfectly warm tea (or, in Arabic, shay). Kunafa and Shay is a place to share experiences, discuss ideas, and sometimes engage with our differences. In each country in the region, you’ll find kunafa made differently. In that way, we also lean into the diversity, complexity, and robust flavors of MENA/SWANA theatre.