Postcard Design: Beth Reichler; Still Photo: James Beeler

New York City: The first annual Noor Play Festival opened at the Wings Theatre on April 13, 2008 to sold-out crowds.

The Noor Festival of short plays tackles Middle East-related topics and offers a great theatre experience through original comedic and dramatic short plays. Its mission, as the name noor (light) suggests, is to enlighten savvy theatergoers about the Middle East while entertaining them.

“The unique criteria for a play to be selected (besides of course its artistic and literary merits) is that at least one of the characters in it should be from the Middle East”, says festival founder and co-producer Al Nazemian.

“However, playwrights, actors, directors, talent, technical crew- and above all, audiences- don’t have to be Middle Eastern at all!” adds festival co-producer Nora Armani.

Noor Festival themes embrace a wide geographical area including: Iran, Afghanistan, Israel, Pakistan and all the Arab countries.

Play submissions are accepted on an ongoing basis and those not selected for this year will be considered for subsequent years.

Talent and technical crew, volunteers, sponsors, donors, and all kinds of support are welcome. The producers would also love to hear from you with your ideas. Write to them at: noorfestival@gmail.com