Production Details

Crawfish - is a solo workshop performance that incorporates live drumming. It chronicles a mans journey from home to homelessness, while also sharing his insights on gentrification, global warming, alzheimers. Time and place: September 11th, 2020, Berkeley CA, under the overpass of the 580 freeway. Crawfish did not move here. He was moved.

Gamal is a playwright and composer. He is a co-founder of Universes theater ensemble, originally based out of New York. Gamal’s theatrical writing credits include: The Last Word, God Took Away His Poem, The Black Mann Act Trail of Jack Johnson, The Wall, The Ride (Universes), Slanguage (Universes), Ameriville (Universes), Party People (Universes), Americus (Universes) and Let Bygones Be, featured at the Humana Festival’s 2010 Ten Minute Play series. Commissions: New York Theater Workshop, Slanguage 1999 Oregon Shakespeare Festivals, United States History Cycle 2008 Actors Theater of Louisville, Ameriville 2009 Cincinnati Playhouse, Americus 2019 Palo Alto Children’s Theatre 2020 Published works include: Writers Corp Teacher Anthology, publisher City Lights Books 2009, The Fire This Time: African American Plays For The 21st Century, Humana Festival: The Complete Plays, 2003, 2009, 2010.

Artist Biographies

GAMAL Abdel CHASTEN
Playwright / Actor, Gamal's latest works are Rahi's Ray of Light, a youth piece, will be premiered at Palo Alto Children's Theatre November 12th, 2021. The Black Mann Act Trial of Jack Johnson received development and reading at the 2021 Colorado New Play Festival in Steamboat Springs Co. Chasten also developed and did a virtual workshop production of Crawfish We The Invisible at 6th St. Playhouse in Santa Rosa California in February of 2021.

Marieke Gaboury
Director and Co-creator, Marieke has worked with Labyrinth Theatre in New York as their Producing Director and is currently Director of performing arts Operation for the City of Palo Alto. Director's Note: What you are seeing is a glimpse at a new play in progress. This workshop has allowed us to start the process of collaborating with designers and a musician, to see how the production works up on its feet, and how an audience receives it. One of the things that I love about Gamal's writing, is the way that he explores the imperfect, beautiful, comedic and heartbreaking experience of being alive. As we have learned during this unprecedented time, job loss could come to any of us, through no fault of our own, and many of us are living on the edge. Now more than ever, finding these moments where we connect with each other as human beings is absolutely essential to our survival, particularly for the most vulnerable among us.