IMAGINE: YEMEN had its Off-Broadway premiere at the Pershing Square Signature Theatre on June 25th, 2018. It was produced by NewYorkRep, Kia Corthron, Kevin Hourigan, Naomi Wallace, and Theater Three Collaborative.

Playwrights: Younis Ali, Kara Lee Corthron, Kia Corthron, Mashuq Mushtaq Deen, Ismail Khalidi, Karen Malpede, T.D. Mitchell, Andrew Saito, and Naomi Wallace

Directors: Misha Shayok Chowdhury, Shadi Gh, Kevin Hourigan, Johanna McKeon, Markus Potter, and Lucie Tiberghien.

Fifty-thousand children died this past year in Yemen of illness, from bombs or starvation. Over 8 million Yemeni are currently at risk of starvation because of a war being fought on their soil between Saudi Arabia, with international (US and other) support, and the rebel Houthi. The situation in Yemen is the largest human-caused humanitarian disaster in memory.

“Who even knows about Yemen and the American involvement? playwright Kia Corthron confronting a photo of a starving child, asked playwrights Karen Malppede and Naomi Wallace, who answered, “We know”.

“Imagine: Yemen” was born.

Nine American playwrights wrote 9 original short plays from 9 unique personal and stylistic perspectives to bring realities of the Yemeni humanitarian catastrophe home to Americans through the impact of live theater.

Money raised from audience donations went to Doctors Without Borders, an on-the-ground, humanitarian relief group already working to save lives in Yemen.