WRITING
TELEVISION - THEATER - PUBLISHING
Culturally relevant stories and creative content.
From T.V to graphic novels to theater.
THERE IS A PORTAL
My new one-woman show, There is a Portal is a multimedia, one-woman show that re-imagines belonging, place, and human connection in a divided world. I recreate and embody my journey of displacement and the search for home in four parts: Loss, Hatred, Regret, and Closeness. There is a Portal is an exploration and experimentation between performer and audience, asking whether it is possible to co-create a deeper consciousness through theater. Can a space of compassion, solidarity and community be created through spoken, embodied, and experiential performance?
Directed by: Rania Lee Khalil
Video art by: Gazelle Samizay
Production Support by: Desipina Productions
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"I wanted that. I wanted someone to say, 'Welcome, we’re so glad you’re here. Tell me about you.' ... Didn’t Americans want to know about us? Our history? We’re the ones who sweeten the milk. Don’t you know that? ... You don’t? ... Why not?"
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"This place is home. My connection to each one of you that’s my home. It is always here, just below the dust. We don’t have to let it come undone."
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"Del Beh Del Rah Dareh ... From my heart to yours, there is a portal."
WE ARE NEW YORK
An Emmy Award-winning television show created to help immigrant New Yorkers practice English.
We Are New York is a 9-episode broadcast TV drama used as an English language and civic engagement tool for immigrant New Yorkers. It was a project of the NYC Mayor’s Office of Adult Education and the City University of New York.
Kayhan wrote the scripts and created a linked, community-based conversation initiative that brought thousands of immigrants, throughout the five boroughs, together to practice English in volunteer-led conversation groups.
She and her team also created educational comic books based on the series which were translated into 5 languages and distributed in NYC public hospitals, courts, CBOs and local meeting places.
WE'VE COME UNDONE
Performed from 2003-2007 to explore the impact of post-9/11 legislation and scapegoating on Arab, South Asian, and Muslim Americans. This performance details the effects of being othered, targeted, and shunned while offering a view of how the fabric of our democracy frays when we rip apart families and communities. A series of moving monologues from a young girls' bewilderment at her father's disappearance, to an INS agent's rant and a Sikh woman's humorous conversation with an arsonist, the characters' truths aim to enlighten, activate and inspire.
Excerpt of We’ve Come Undone as part of “Beyond Outrage”, Presented & Recorded at the Jerome L. Greene Space, WNYC.
Art by: Alejandra Delfin
JACKIE AND THE BEANSTALK
Jackie is after more than beans as she battles asthma and a giant polluter while trying to hold on to her dreams in this delightfully funny, environmentally-conscious theatrical event. Jackie and the Beanstalk reflects the lived experience of many families in the South Bronx, and combines serious social issues with theater and circus arts to engage young people in decisions about their neighborhood.
Performances engaged over 1,000 Bronx residents. Customized lesson plans were used by hundreds of local teachers. Organized annual post-performance community health fair with local information, resources, on-site services, and food. Open to all residents.
“Telling Stories to Change the World collects moving and powerful essays from across the globe that speak to the power of storytelling and the resilience of the human spirit. It proves that telling stories, and listening to one another carefully, does have the power to change the world. It’s a terrific collection!”
“Reading this book, we add ourselves to the host of witness-bearers as the vivid, compelling, and unimpeachable testimony of lived and reimagined experience open new vistas for direct action and creative collective response. This collection inspires, instructs, and sets some terrific examples. This is a rare and beautifully curated resource of hard-won joy and deeply flowing currents of renewal.”