A Thousand Splendid Suns

HEND AYOUB

Mariam

HEND AYOUB (Mariam) is excited to be making her Arena Stage debut. Her credits include: Broadway’s Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo with Robin Williams, as well as its previous run at Los Angeles’ Mark Taper Forum; Kiss (Yale Repertory Theatre); Veils (world premiere, Portland Stage; Barrington Stage). Television credits include: Homeland, Orange Is the New Black, The Looming Tower, Madam Secretary, Royal Pains, Feed the Beast, Comedy Central’s The Watch List and recurring roles on Transparent and Damages. In film, she co-starred in the Emmy Award-winning film Death of a President and the award-winning film Private. www.hendayoub.com.

SARAH COREY

Ensemble

SARAH COREY (Ensemble) is making her Arena Stage debut. Most recently she played The Grocer’s Wife and Mrs. Beouf in Rhinoceros at Tantrum Theater. Favorite NYC credits include: Love and Real Estate (59e59) and A Letter to Harvey Milk (Acorn Theatre). In D.C. she has been seen as Barbara DeMarco in Shear Madness at the Kennedy Center; Anne/Ana/Aminah in Oil at Olney Theatre Center; and in Love Sick at Theater J. Other favorite regionals include: Anisah in the world premiere of In the Book of at Alabama Shakespeare Festival; Rose Gellman in Caroline, or Change at Speakeasy Stage; Kate in Lippa’s Wild Party at New Repertory Theatre (IRNE award); and Kate Jerome in both Brighton Beach Memoirs and Broadway Bound at Oldcastle Theatre Company. AB Princeton University. www.sarah-corey.com.

LANNA JOFFREY

Fariba / Nana

LANNA JOFFREY (Fariba / Nana) is thrilled to make her Arena Stage debut reprising her role in A Thousand Splendid Suns (The Old Globe, A.C.T. and Seattle Rep.). Based in London, Lanna recently performed The Eyes of the Night (Cervantes Theatre); The Time of Our Lies chronicling the life of Howard Zinn (Park Theatre); and They Promised Her the Moon honoring the life of Jerrie Cobb (Old Globe). Lanna's verbatim play of women’s war stories, Valiant,has travelled the U.K. and U.S. — going to Edinburgh Fringe, Theatre503, Women and War Festival, NY Fringe, InterAct Theatre and others. Lanna earned awards for performances at NYFringe (Valiant), IRNE in Boston (Nine Parts of Desire) and Denver Ovation (1001). Her spoken word and writing have been featured online and in print. www.lannajoffrey.com

HAYSAM KADRI

Rasheed / Fight Captain

HAYSAM KADRI (Rasheed / Fight Captain) has appeared in A Thousand Splendid Suns (Seattle Rep, The Old Globe, Theatre Calgary, A.C.T.); Enron, To Kill a Mockingbird, Much Ado about Nothing, The Crucible and A Christmas Carol (Theatre Calgary); The Hollow, Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Twelve Angry Men, Dr. Jeykll & Mr. Hyde and Black Coffee (Vertigo Theatre); Richard III, Macbeth, Othello, William Shakespeare’s Land of the Dead and The Winter’s Tale (The Shakespeare Company); and The Last Wife, Cockroach, The Motherfu**er with the Hat and Shakespeare’s Dog (Alberta Theatre Projects). His film and TV credits include: The Revenant and Hell on Wheels. Kadri is artistic producer of The Shakespeare Company and program director of Theatre Calgary’s Shakespeare by the Bow.

JOSEPH KAMAL

Babi / Zaman / Interrogator

JOSEPH KAMAL (Babi / Zaman / Interrogator) will be making his third appearance with Arena, previously seen in Anthems: Culture Clash and Love in Afghanistan. Recently, he was in the Broadway company of the Tony Award-winning musical The Bands Visit. He has appeared in world premieres by Tony Kushner, Ethan Coen, Rajiv Joseph, Charles Mee, Lee Breuer, Betty Shamieh, Herbert Siguenza and Richard Montoya of Culture Clash, and Charles Randolph-Wright, as well as in West Coast premieres and the national tour of plays by Theresa Rebeck and Lynn Nottage. A long time ago he was a company member of The Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C. Recent television credits include: Murphy Brown, Animal Kingdom, Madame Secretary and Seal Team, among others. He has done a lot of voiceover work including the video game Call of Duty. @JosephKamal8

JASON KAPOOR

Wakil

JASON KAPOOR (Wakil) is thrilled to be making his D.C. debut at Arena Stage. He has been seen in the Off-Broadway premiere of Ideation by Aaron Loeb and in all of the American Productions of A Thousand Splendid Suns, as well as the Canadian Premiere at Theatre Calgary. He received his B.A. from San Jose State University and an M.A. from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

MIRIAN KATRIB

Laila

MIRIAN KATRIB (Laila) most recently appeared as Laila at The Grand Theatre (London)’s production of A Thousand Splendid Suns. Other recent theater credits include: The Prisoner of Tehran (Theatre Passe Muraille) and Me and You (Talisman Theatre). Mirian’s TV credits include: Condor, American Gods and many other commercial credits. Mirian is also an internationally touring musician and singer/songwriter. Instagram @miriankatrib

RAVI MAMPARA

Zalmai

RAVI MAMPARA (Zalmai) performed most recently in A Christmas Carol at Ford's Theater. He has performed at the Theater Lab's Annual Cabaret Benefit, the Shakespeare Theatre’s annual Gala and is an alumnus of Camp Arena Stage where he has been an enthusiastic camper for three summers. He is 10 years old and in fifth grade at Washington Latin. He loves to play soccer and piano, sing, dance and perform. He is an avid musical theater fan aspiring to perform in plays and musicals, to compose music and to choreograph dance. Ravi is thrilled to have the opportunity to join the cast of A Thousand Splendid Suns.

JUSTIN XAVIER POYDRAS

Zalmai

JUSTIN XAVIER POYDRAS (Zalmai) is excited for his first appearance at Arena Stage. He was introduced to musical and drama play production at Capital City PCS (CCPCS) Theatre in Washington, D.C. Beginning in first grade, he has spent the last six years performing notable roles, including Simba (The Lion King); Dr. Seuss (Seussical); Pinocchio (Law & Order: Fairy Tale Unit); and his breakout role as Dromio of Syracuse in Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors (CCPCS Theatre). Previous roles include: Antigounus, Camillo and Polixenes, in Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale (The Theatre Lab, School of Dramatic Arts). He received the CCPCS “Light Leadership Award” for exemplary school spirit and actively displaying community values of kindness, courage, creativity, responsibility and perseverance. He maintains “Habits of Scholar” goals in all his academic classes at school.

YOUSOF SULTANI

Ensemble

YOUSOF SULTANI (Ensemble) is thrilled to be making his Arena Stage debut! He was most recently seen on stage in And Then There Were None at Drury Lane in Chicago. Other credits include: Photograph 51 (Court Theatre); Heartland (InterAct Theatre); Miss Bennet: Christmas At Pemberley and Guards At The Taj (Milwaukee Repertory Theater); The Doppelgänger: An International Farce and The Fundamentals (Steppenwolf Theater); United Flight 232 (House Theatre); Disappearing Number and Inana (TimeLine Theatre); Othello (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); and The Hundred Flowers Project (Silk Road Rising). Film credits include: Glass House. Television credits include: The Brave (NBC); Empire (FOX); and Chicago Fire (NBC). Yousof received his B.F.A. in performance from Virginia Commonwealth University. He will be dedicating his performance to his father, Wahid Sultani.

NIKITA TEWANI

Aziza

NIKITA TEWANI (Aziza) is thrilled to be reprising the role of Aziza in her Arena Stage debut. She is part of the original cast that world-premiere at A.C.T. and toured the West-Coast. Off-Broadway, Nikita played Nasrin in The Fall at Soho Playhouse. Regionally, she played Mahwish in The Who and The What at Milwaukee Repertory Theater. She will be seen as a recurring role on an upcoming Netflix Series in 2020. She has co-starred on TV Shows including The Affair (Showtime)and Divorce (HBO) and completed a number of independent films. Most recently, she played the lead role in the upcoming feature film I’ll Meet You There. Nikita received her B.F.A. in drama at NYU Tisch. @NikitaTewani imdb.com/NikitaTewani

ANTOINE YARED

Tariq / Driver

ANTOINE YARED (Tariq / Driver), born in Lebanon and raised in Montreal, has performed in theaters across the Canadian provinces of Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes, as well as performing in A Thousand Splendid Suns last year in San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle. He most recently appeared in Indecent at the Seattle Repertory Theatre, A Christmas Carol at Soulpepper in Toronto and The Last Wife at the Centaur Theatre in Montreal. He also appeared in Groundling Theatre’s production of LEAR in Toronto. Other career highlights include Romeo in Romeo and Juliet at the Stratford Festival where he spent five seasons appearing in productions like The Madwoman of Chaillot, John Gabriel Borkman, Macbeth, As You Like It, King John, The Alchemist, Mother Courage and Her Children, The Merchant of Venice and Pericles.