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."
There are some topics you just shouldn't discuss at a dinner party. Religion, race, politics -- it's probably good to avoid these controversial matters altogether, and focus on more agreeable subjects. Like the weather. Perhaps if the two couples in 'Disgraced' would have taken that advice, they would have avoided a whole lot of trouble and pain. Then again, if the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Ayad Akhtar, now open at the Lyceum Theatre, stayed away from such discourse, we wouldn't have been treated to one of the season's most engaging nights of theater...It's easily the most impassioned dinner scenes on Broadway since 'August: Osage County,' and one that playwright Akhtar crafts beautifully. His dialogue is intelligent and superb -- his characters so complex yet well-defined -- that you'll travel along the ride of emotions and ideas not knowing where you're going next. And like any good roller coaster, the final drop will leave your heart in the pit of your stomach.
'Disgraced' was far from perfect when it opened off-Broadway two years ago, but it worked up to a point...Now 'Disgraced' is back, with a new cast, on Broadway at that. But the bigger stage hasn't been kind to the show. Because the play seems like a PowerPoint lecture about current hot topics -- terrorism, Islam, Jews, religion, art -- it requires excellent acting. Pity the performances here are wildly uneven, and a couple of them are downright bad. Purists may look suspiciously at Josh Radnor...But Radnor's actually quite good as Isaac, a smarmy, smug Whitney Museum curator -- and Karen Pittman, the original cast's lone survivor, is even better as Isaac's no-nonsense wife, Jory. No, the problems are Hari Dhillon and Gretchen Mol. Inconveniently they play the leads, attorney Amir Kapoor and his wife, the WASP-y painter Emily. And they're never believable -- either as a couple or as, you know, people.
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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