Envisioning Queer Muslimhood Panel

Fatima A. Maan is a theatermaker, administrator, and educator born and raised in Lahore, Pakistan and currently residing in Brooklyn. She received her MFA at the Boston Playwrights' Theater and undergraduate degrees in Theater and Economics at NYU Abu Dhabi. She currently works as a Development Associate at the New York Theater Workshop. Fatima is deeply drawn to character-driven narratives that explore the paradoxical nature of human existence and connection. She is most determined to depict relationships that are at once frustrating, empowering, and above all real. Inspired by the power of theater to unravel what we know most intimately, Fatima’s plays center the complex sociopolitical nuances that characterize lived experience in South Asia. Her plays have been performed in multiple cities across Pakistan as well as Abu Dhabi, London, Boston, New York City, and more.

Zahra Budhwani (they/them) is a Brooklyn-based director and puppeteer. They have developed and staged work with The Tank, Roundabout Theatre, Dixon Place, Prime Produce, Sanguine Theatre Company and more. Zahra was a member of the Mercury Store Directing Lab, a Roundabout Directors’ Group Cohort 5 Member, and a director for the 24 Hour Plays: Nationals. They are currently a member of the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab. They teach and make theatre with students all over NYC with the New Victory Theatre, Opening Act, CO/LAB Theatre Group, The Moth, and Broadway Bound Kids.  BFA NYU/Playwrights Horizons.

Salwa Meghjee is a Muslim-Indian-Floridian writer. Her plays include U-Haul Mesbians (O’Neill National Musical Theater Conference Semi-Finalist), Ender’s Gay (Fault Line Theater’s Irons in the Fire Finalist, O’Neill National Playwrights Conference Semi-Finalist, National Queer Theater Open Call Finalist), and, written with her twin sister Samah, The Mysterious Mystery of the Lost Letters (Brooklyn Publishers). She co-founded the feminist theatre company The Golden. She is a Core Apprentice at the Playwrights’ Center, a fellow in the Playwrights Program at Juilliard, a Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab Cohort Member, and a New Victory LabWorks Artist. BA, UC Berkeley; MFA, Northwestern University.