'Reborning': Creepy, yes, but undeniably powerful Extraordinary cast propels Zayd Dohrn's superb comedy-drama 'Reborning' at Fountain Theatre From left, Kristin Carey and Joanna Strapp in Zayd Dohrn's "Reborning" at the Fountain Theatre.   By F. Kathleen Foley “Reborning” is the phenomenon in which customers purchase extravagantly expensive infant dolls – sometimes facsimiles of lost loved ones – that are amazingly lifelike in every particular. Fascinated by this “beautiful, grotesque and odd” fetish/fad, playwright Zayd Dohrn was inspired to write “Reborning,” his superb comedy-drama, now in its Los Angeles premiere at the Fountain Theatre. The action centers around Kelly (Joanna Strapp), a prickly young woman who lives with her goofily “normal” boyfriend, Daizy (Ryan Doucette). The much in-demand creator of “reborn” babies, Kelly encounters a particularly exacting customer in Emily (Kristin Carey), a successful older woman who has ordered an exact replica of her dead baby girl. But when Kelly begins to suspect that Emily is the woman who gruesomely abandoned her at birth, she arrives at the brink of madness. It's an admittedly creepy concept, but there's nothing cheap about Dohrn's play, which builds to a shattering denouement. Director Simon Levy has assembled an extraordinary cast in his exquisitely well-realized [...]

       The Journey is Your Story July 12-22, 2015 • Patmos, Greece JOIN AUTHORS CHERYL STRAYED AND RACHEL DEWOSKIN, PLAYWRIGHT AND SCREENWRITER ZAYD DOHRN AND FILMMAKER BRIAN LINDSTROM ON THE RENOWNED GREEK ISLE OF PATMOS THIS SUMMER! To register, click here Bestselling author Cheryl Strayed will lead this ten-day salon on the Greek island of Patmos with co-leaders Brian Lindstrom, Rachel DeWoskin and Zayd Dohrn (see bios below). Together they'll share their wisdom and advice on the craft of writing, storytelling, and examining the role of narrative in our lives. Through lively conversations, lectures, and creative exercises, Cheryl and her co-leaders will share their experiences, insights and tips on mining one's life story to uncover universal human truths. They'll also draw upon the enlightenment that can be found in the timeless Greek myths. The stunning landscape of Patmos is an ideal setting for this gathering. Enjoy relaxed but engaging morning talks, interactive learning experiences, small group conversation and late-night story time under the stars. There will be plenty of time to swim in the sea, get a massage, hang at a lovely beachside café, take a hike, connect with kindred spirits and explore the beguiling splendors of the island. This [...]

New Repertory Theatre announces MUCKRAKERS by Zayd Dohrn, January 10-February 1, 2015 in the Black Box Theater at the Arsenal Center for the Arts, 321 Arsenal Street, Watertown, MA. Tickets are $36 and may be purchased by calling the New Rep Box Office at 617-923-8487 or visitingnewrep.org. Student, senior, and group discounts are available. Subscription packages including MUCKRAKERS are also available. The press opening will be Monday, January 12 at 7:30pm. "In the second year of our Next Rep Black Box Festival, we continue to present adventurous, intimate plays that allow audiences to connect to works on a much more personal level," says Artistic Director, Jim Petosa. "MUCKRAKERS embodies those themes, as well as New Rep's mission to present work that speaks directly to the issues and ideas of our time. In a world that has become increasingly interconnected, privacy, the need to know, and the right to information sits front and center in our collected cultural zeitgeist. MUCKRAKERS deftly probes those subjects in a fascinating and absorbing manner." "Last year we were met with the resounding success of our inaugural Next Rep Black Box Festival," says Managing Director, Harriet Sheets. "This year, we hope to continue those successes as [...]

Launching the Fountain Theatre's 25th Anniversary Season, Simon Levy directs Kristin Carey, Ryan Doucette, Joanna Strapp - and some very unusual, one-of-a-kind dolls - in the Los Angeles premiere of Reborning by Zayd Dohrn. How far would you go to create a family? A darkly funny psychological thriller that takes an unsettling look at work, motherhood and the power of healing, Reborning opens at the Fountain Theatre on Jan. 24. In Reborning, a young artist who crafts custom-made dolls begins to suspect that a demanding client may be the mother who abandoned her at birth. As she tries to unravel the mystery, she discovers the path to her own "reborning." "The play is funny and macabre, but also deeply emotional and very moving," says Levy. A reborn doll is a manufactured vinyl doll that has been transformed to resemble a human baby with as much realism as possible. Although many consumers collect reborns as they would regular dolls, others use them to replace a child they once lost or a child that has grown up. The dolls often come with fake birth or adoption certificates, and their "parents" care for them as they would an infant. Because of their realistic [...]

            When we began work on the 2012 version of Lit 50, there were some 200 published writers on our long list. This year, there were 437. As always, trimming the list to a mere fifty writers required a certain kind of agony (and a few sleepless nights), but we’re proud of the list we gathered here, and we feel it celebrates the wealth of talent and diversity of Chicago’s literary community. Close followers of Lit 50 will know this year’s list celebrates writers across all forms: novelists, essayists, poets, graphic novelists, playwrights. Our call to local literary folk yielded a wealth of celebratory news: overseas teaching offers, sealed book deals, hard-earned fellowships and awards. It also introduced dozens of writers that were not already known to us. We’re proud that this year’s Lit 50 includes seventeen writers who are making their first appearance on this list, including Chris Abani, the Nigerian-born writer who escaped a death row sentence in 1991 and now teaches graduate students at Northwestern University. We’re thrilled to add Lindsay Hunter, Cristina Henriquez, and Kate Harding, women whose voices we’ve long admired and whose forthcoming books we’re impatient to read. We’re [...]

      From BroadwayWorld.com: The Harold Clurman Lab Theater, the professional wing of the Art of Acting Studio, is proud to present The West Coast premiere of Muckrakers by Zayd Dohrn (Long Way ago Down, Outside People, Haymarket, Sick). Directed by Don K. Williams (Off-Broadway Lebensraum, Turn of the Screw, Look Back in Anger, Libidoff), Muckrakers will play Fridays & Saturdays at 8PM, May 30 - July 2, 2014, with the final two performances playing Monday and Tuesday, respectively. The Lab Theater's most recent work in Los Angeles include the Ovation-recommended run of Lebensraum by Israel Horovitz, and Ovation-nominated run of Long Way Go Down by Zayd Dohrn. Zayd Dohrn has been hailed by The New York Times as a writer who is gaining the attention of major theaters around the country. His plays have recently been presented by Manhattan Theatre Club, Berkshire Theatre Festival, MCC, Marin Theatre Company, The Public (SPF), Naked Angels, South Coast Rep, The Vineyard, Southern Rep, Kitchen Dog, The Lark, and New York Theatre Workshop. He is currently writing screenplays for American Film Company and Vox3 Films as well as the adaption ofRachel DeWoskin's memoir Foreign Babes in Beijing for HBO with DeWoskin (Dohrn's wife and writing partner) and Eat Pray Love [...]

Outside People, which had its off-Broadway world premiere last year at the Vineyard Theatre, in a co-production with Naked Angels, was just published by Samuel French and is available at local bookstores and on Amazon. A dark, comic look at China/U.S. relations - economic, political, and sexual. In modern-day Beijing, a young American guy falls for a Chinese girl and then struggles to understand where she's coming from. A play about loneliness, culture-shock, language, and trying to make connections across borders. “An engaging and smart comedy of manners... Achingly true.” - Charles Isherwood, The New York Times “A funny, tightly written dramedy. Speaks clearly about the matters that unite us as well as those that keep us apart.” - Roma Torre, NY1 “An engaging new comedy of cultural misunderstanding… Dohrn deftly establishes the ways that tone – the elusive key for westerners struggling to master Mandarin – can take precedence over meaning… An affecting study of how love is, at heart, the struggle to establish a common language.” - Brendan Lemon, Financial Times “Dohrn throws bold elbows, parcels out his characters' epiphanies sparingly, and touches down on a satisfyingly grim note.” - Scott Brown, New York Magazine

Cannes: Peter Webber to Direct 'Happy Camp' 12:11 PM PDT 5/17/2013 by Stuart Kemp Based on a debut screenplay by playwright Zayd Dohrn, the film is being mounted by Bedlam Productions, Oscar winner Gareth Unwin's company. Peter Webber (Girl With a Pearl Earring) is attached to direct. The movie follows a drug-addled former deputy sheriff searching for his missing daughter amongst the complex politics of a rural Californian logging community. Taking place just off-reservation, the story exists where several worlds collide, with drug dealers, Native Americans, and corrupt officials all coming to blows. The project is the debut screenplay from playwright Zayd Dohrn and will be produced by U.K. producer Stella Nwimo, marking her first project after joining the Bedlam team. "Stella's arrival at Bedlam has brought in a succession of great properties. We are very proud to see Stella get her first film away under the Bedlam banner," said Unwin, CEO at Bedlam. The noir thriller is set to shoot in North America at the end of 2013.

Jackalope's Season 5 smash hit Long Way Go Down returns for a limited 5-performance engagement: July 31st - Aug. 4th, 2013 In association with the Chicago Parks District, Jackalope is remounting the Jeff-Nominated play at the beautiful Theater on the Lake, located at Fullerton Ave & Lake Shore Dr. Tickets on sale Now! Click HERE for more information.

In MUCKRAKERS a young female activist brings an older man—a famous political hacker/journalist—home to her Brooklyn apartment to spend the night. But as they start to expose each other’s secrets, personal and political desires collide, testing the limits of privacy in the modern world. The Barrington Stage production is directed by Giovanna Sardelli, and stars Kate Rogal and Kahan James. See more at: http://barringtonstageco.org