LEILA BUCK, En Garde Arts, New York, NY
Leila’s fellowship will focus on the development of her piece Mix & Match, commissioned by En Garde Arts - a theatrical event that invites the audience into the journey of two families - one Lebanese and (mostly) Muslim, one Irish and (mostly) Catholic - being joined in marriage. As guests at the wedding, and witnesses to the families' struggles before, during, and beyond, audiences are invited to eat, dance and engage in an immersive, interactive exploration of the challenges and joys of connecting across all kinds of borders. Leila will continue writing the piece in collaboration with director Tamilla Woodard and the team, and develop the role she will play as M.C./HOST– the audience’s guide between time, place, reality, memory and dreams. She will also hone her vocal and musical training and Arabic language skills, travel to Lebanon for research and study expressive arts therapies in service of this piece and all of her work as an actor, writer, facilitator and educator. Leila has performed and developed her work and others at The Public Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, Cleveland Public, Brooklyn Museum, Mosaic, Arena Stage, the U.N., and the Wilma (Barrymore Award) and across the U.S., Europe, China, Australia, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon. Her other current projects include American Dreams - a theatrical game show directed by Tamilla Woodard where the audience decides who will be the next U.S. citizen - which begins touring this fall, and 1001 Nights (A Retelling), a California Shakespeare Theater commission co-written with and directed by Evren Odcikin. Leila is a member of the Public’s first Emerging Writers Group, a Usual Suspect with NYTW and an adjunct professor at NYU. www.leilabuck.com