By Roger Q. Mason
Taking its title from the mythical Egyptian afterlife, The Duat is a psychological portrait of Cornelius Johnson, a FBI counterintelligence officer, in a battle for his very soul. Using spoken word, North African drumming, and gorgeous choreography, this one-person world premiere is a poetic and virtuosic story of redemption.
Profound…folks, it’s beautiful…with an ending writers only dream about”
– Stage Buddy
Our new seating arrangement will be on stage, with three tiered price zones, Zone 1, 2 and 3, which will correspond to your original ticket’s price level. Within these price zones, seating will be general admission and seated first come, first served. All seats are accessible without the use of stairs. A portion of seats within Zone 2 and 3 will be high-top chairs with backs. See the seating map below for a visual representation of the tiered pricing zones.
Roger Q. Mason (they/them) is a writer and performer who uses the lens of history to disrupt the biases that divide rather than unite us. Their playwriting has been seen on Broadway (Circle in the Square Reading Series); Off and Off-Off-Broadway; and regionally. Mason’s World Premiere of Lavender Men was lauded by the Los Angeles Times as “evoking the mingled visions of Suzan-Lori Parks, Jeremy O. Harris and Michael R. Jackson.” They are a recipient of the inaugural Catalyst Fellowship, awarded by the Dramatists Guild Foundation, in celebrations of theatre makers whose work impacts social justice and civic change through art. As a filmmaker, Mason has been recognized by the British Film Institute, Lonely Wolf International Film Festival, SCAD Film Festival, AT&T Film Award and Atlanta International Film Festival. Their films have screened in the US, UK, Poland, Brazil, and Asia. Mason holds degrees from Princeton University, Middlebury College, and Northwestern University. They are a member of the Dramatists Guild of America, and an alum of the Ma-Yi’s Writing Lab, Page 73’s Interstate 73 Writers Group and Primary Stages Writing Cohort. Mason currently produces a memoir/cooking segment on Instagram called Cooking with Q: A Playwrights Guide to Telling My Trouble. Previously, they co-hosted the podcast Sister Roger’s Gayborhood and hosted This Way Out Radio’s Queerly Yours: Portraits in Courage. Mason has served as lead mentor of The Marsha P. Johnson Institute’s Starship Fellowship, the New Visions Fellowship and the Shay Foundation Fellowship. They are currently on faculty at CalArts. Instagram: @rogerq.mason
Taibi Magar is an Egyptian-American director, based in New York, whose work is focused at the intersection of imagination and social justice. After all, if you can’t imagine it, you can’t fight for it. Because of this, her work is known for being visually and theatrically explosive, grounded in potent performances, and always fighting for the underdog.
She is a graduate of the Brown University MFA program. Most recently she directed Help (The Shed), Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 (Signature Theatre, Lortel-winning). Other NY credits include: Capsule by Whitney White and Peter Mark Kendall (Under the Radar Festival/The Public Theater, co-directed with Tyler Dobrowsky) Blue Ridge starring Marin Ireland and The Great Leap starring BD Wong (Atlantic Theater Company); Is God Is (Soho Rep, 2018 Obie Award;) Master (The Foundry, NYT Critics Pick); and Underground Railroad Game (Ars Nova, NYT Critics Pick). She also premiered the new musicals Macbeth In Stride and l We Live In Cairo at A.R.T. Boston. Additionally, she is attached to developing the commercial theatrical adaptation of Wonder by Jill Furman (book by Bess Wohl, music and lyrics by A Great Big World). Regional: CTG, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Alley Theatre, The Guthrie Theater, and Seattle Repertory Theatre, among others. International: Hamburg Festival, Edinburgh Festival, Malthouse Theatre (Melbourne), and Soho Theatre (London). Other: She is the recipient of a Stephen Sondheim Fellowship, Oregon Shakespeare Festival Fellowship, Public Theater Shakespeare Fellowship, and TFANA Actors and Director Project Fellowship. Taibi is an alumni of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab and a NYTW Usual Suspect.
She received an Obie Award in 2018 and the SDC Breakout Award in 2019. Taibi has directed and taught at many academic institutions, including University of the Arts, Juilliard, Fordham University, New York University and Brown University.