I Call My Brothers

Jonas Hassen Khemiri (Playwright) is an award-winning Swedish author. He made a celebrated debut in 2003 with One Eye Red. Khemiri's second novel, Montecore, was published to unanimous raving reviews in 2006. A collection of Khemiri's short stories and plays was published in 2009. It included the plays Invasion! (performed in 6 European countries) and God Times Five. Khemiri's latest play, We Who Are Hundred, premiered at Gothenburg City Theatre in September 2009. It recently had a celebrated Norwegian premier and will soon open at Thalia Theater in Hamburg. Literary Awards: Borås Prize for best Swedish Literary Debut (2004); Per Olov Enquist Prize for young authors facing the future (2006); VI Magazine Literary Prize (2006); Colombine scholarship (2006); Tidningen CITY’s literary award (2006); Swedish Radio’s Novel Prize (2006); The Bellman Award (2007); Swedish Radio’s Prize/Short Story (‘08)  International Residencies: Ledig House, Hudson, New York (2004); International Residency for Emerging Playwrights at Royal Court, London (2006); DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service), Berlin (2009).

Rachel Willson-Broyles (Translator) is a Swedish-to-English freelance translator. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin. In addition to translating, she is pursuing a Ph.D. in Scandinavian Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She received her BA in Scandinavian Studies from Gustavus Adolphus College in 2002 and her MA in Scandinavian Studies from UW-Madison in 2007. She has had a wonderful time working on INVASION! with The Play Company, and wants to give special thanks to Jonas. Thanks and love to Laura, Mom, Dad, Nathan, Laura, Heather, Shannon, and those four musical Swedes.

Erica Schmidt (Director/Playwright) Adapted and directed Cyrano in collaboration with The National (The Goodspeed, The New Group). Directed and adapted MacBeth (Seattle Rep, Lucille Lortel, Hunter Theatre Project) Drama Desk nominations: Outstanding Direction, Outstanding Revival; Lortel nomination Outstanding Revival; MacBeth is published by DPS. Schmidt wrote and directed All the Fine Boys for The New Group; published by Samuel French. Directed: Richard 2 (The Old Globe); Turgenev’s A Month In The Country (Classic Stage Company); Humor Abuse (co-creator/writer and director, Lucille Lortel Award, Manhattan Theatre Club,The Taper); Rent (Tokyo); Trust (The Play Company, Callaway Award nomination); As You Like It (The Public Theater); Debbie Does Dallas (wrote the adaptation and directed Off-Broadway for The Araca Group) Debbie is published by DPS; Princess Grace Award recipient 2001. As a screenwriter, Erica received a BAFTA nomination for Cyrano for Working Title/MGM. Upcoming: Orpheus Descending (TFANA).

Dahlia Azama (Actor) graduated from The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London after studying at The American University in Cairo. New York credits include: Isabel in The Isabel Who Disappeared (Hybrid Theatre Works).  American University in Cairo credits include: Masha in Three Sisters, Katherine in Taming of the Shrew and Agnes in The School for Wives.  This is her Off-Broadway debut and she is thrilled to be part of the show.

Francis Benhamou (Actor) was born in Uruguay and raised in Miami. She recently performed Off Broadway in Sylvia Path’s “Three Women” directed by Robert Shaw, artistic director of Inside Intelligence UK. She starred in the independent film "Arranged” which has garnered many awards including Best Narrative Film at the 2007 Brooklyn Film Festival and the 2007 Audience Award Berkshire Int’l Film Festival. Her other film credits include “I’m Not Me”, “Breaking Upwards”, Noah Buschel's "Neal Cassady", and the title character in "Lucia" which won Best Short Film at the 2006 Charlotte Film Festival. TV credits: ESPN Mini-series "Bronx Is Burning". Attended New York University, BA with a Minor in Acting and Maggie Flanigan's Two Year Meisner Acting program. Ms. Benhamou is a member of New York Based Inviolet Repertory Theatre.

Damon Owlia (Actor) is an actor and filmmaker dedicated to civic minded storytelling. As an actor, Mr. Owlia’s theater credits include: I Call My Brothers (New Ohio Theater); Nothing Left to Burn (Ars Nova); Ka (The Brick); TV/ Film credits include: “The Good Fight”; “Madam Secretary”; “Day Ten”. As a Producer, Mr. Owlia’s credits include: the Emmy-Nominated thriller series The Accidental Wolf (Topic Studios); The Courtroom (Tribeca Festival 2022); The Flores Exhibits (flores-exhibits.org).

Rachid Sabitri (Actor) most recently appeared in the American Theatre Group’s Bubble Boy the Musical and the staged reading of A Nice Indian Boy at the Old Globe in San Diego. His other US theater credits include: Twelfth Night (Westport Country Playhouse) Rafta, Rafta (The Old Globe) and The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife (La Mirada Playhouse). UK credits include: Rafta Rafta (National Theatre, Nicholas Hytner, director), Romeo and Juliet (West End), Beyond Midnight (Edinburgh Festival), Twelfth Night (Northampton Theatre Royal), Beautiful Thing and Bloodtide, (both at York Theatre Royal), Tangier Tattoo (Glydenbourne Opera House). Television credits include Generation Kill (HBO); The Odds (pilot, CBS); Dr. Who, Casualty, Wannabes and Family Business (BBC); The Walk and Blue Murder (Granada TV); and The Bill (Thames Television).

Daniel Zimmerman (Set Designer) Select New York Credits: Henry IV, Part 1, directed by Davis McCallum, Andrew Hinderaker's Suicide, Inc,. dir. Jonathan Berry, for Roundabout Theater Company; Mat Smart's The Steadfast, dir. Wes Grantom; Bekah Brunsetter’s Be a Good Little Widow, dir. Stephen Brackett, for Ars Nova; The Confidence Man for Woodshed Collective; and Steven Levenson’s Seven Minutes in Heaven, dir. Adrienne Campbell-Holt, for Colt Coeur; Jake Jeppson's The Clearing dir. by Josh Hecht; Ken Urban's WASPS dir. Stephen Bracket, for Studio 42. Other New York work has been seen at Clubbed Thumb, HERE Arts, Cherry Lane Theatre, Theatre Row, The Wild Project, Theatre at St. Clements, and The Ohio. Regional Theatre: Actors Theatre of Louisville, Portland Stage Co., The Pioneer Theatre, The Humana Festival. MFA: NYU Tisch.

Jessica Pabst (Costume Designer) Recent NYC credits include: Taking Care of Baby ( Manhattan Theater Club), How to Make Friends and Then Kill Them ( Rattlestick Playwrights Theater) Somewhere Fun, The Metal Children (The Vineyard Theatre); Murder Ballad (Manhattan Theatre Club/Union Square Theatre); The Whale (Lucille Lortel Award), Assistance (Playwrights Horizons); Nobody Loves You, Warrior Class, The Bad Guys (Second Stage); Buyer and Cellar (Barrow Street); 3 Pianos, (New York Theatre Workshop). Regional:The Few (Old Globe); 3 Pianos (American Repertory Theatre). Her work has also appeared at P73, Ars Nova, The Juilliard School, St. Ann’s Warehouse, PrincetonUniversity. Drama Desk Nomination, Henry Hewes Design Nomination.

Jeff Croiter (Lighting Design) Broadway: Newsies; Peter and the Starcatcher (Tony Award); A Time to Kill; Soul Doctor; The Performers; The Anarchist; The Pee-wee Herman Show; Next Fall; Kiki and Herb. Other NYC includes: Loves Labors Lost andComedy of Errors (Shakespeare in the Park); Old Jews Telling Jokes; The Last Five Years; Clive; The Madrid; Harper Regan; Silence The Musical; Love, Loss, and What I Wore; Meet Vera Stark; Rapture, Blister, Burn; A Lie of the Mind; Ordinary Days; Family Guys Sings; The Voysey Inheritance; The Internationalist; Jacques Brel; Almost, Maine; Veins and Thumbtacks; Rufus Wainwright’s Judy Garland Concert; and Jennifer Muller The Works.

Bart Fasbender (Sound Design) Recent/current designs: Slag Heap, Women on Fire and 2003 – 2005 Mentor Projects at Cherry Lane; Boozy at The Culture Project (previously at The Ohio); Reasons for Return at Symphony Space and Are We Here Yet at Tribeca PAC for MoCo; Barbara Bush Never Slept Here, Gheri Dosti and William Hoffman's Shoe Palace Murray at Bernie West Theatre for Circle East; Trust at The Kirk and Sakharam Binder at 59E59 for The Play Company; Legal Snarls, Mark Medoff's Same Life Over and Lakawana Rails Radio Plays for TNT in PA, Pen Pals, Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey's Woman of Independent Means and Joanna's Husband and David's Wife at PPT in VA.