—Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times
Praise for
Disgraced
“The best play I saw last year.… A quick-witted and shattering drama.… Disgraced rubs all kinds of unexpected raw spots with intelligence and humor.”
—Linda Winer, Newsday
“A sparkling and combustible contemporary drama.… Ayad Akhtar’s one-act play deftly mixes the political and personal, exploring race, freedom of speech, political correctness, even the essence of Islam and Judaism. The insidery references to the Hamptons and Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and art critic Jerry Saltz are just enough to make audience members feel smart.… Akhtar… has lots to say about America and the world today. He says it all compellingly, and none of it is comforting.”
—Philip Boroff, Bloomberg Businessweek
“Compelling.… Disgraced raises and toys with provocative and nuanced ideas.”
—Jesse Oxfeld, New York Observer
“A continuously engaging, vitally engaged play about thorny questions of identity and religion in the contemporary world.… In dialogue that bristles with wit and intelligence, Mr. Akhtar… puts contemporary attitudes toward religion under a microscope, revealing how tenuous self-image can be for people born into one way of being who have embraced another.… Everyone has been told that politics and religion are two subjects that should be off-limits at social gatherings. But watching Mr. Akhtar’s characters rip into these forbidden topics, there’s no arguing that they make for ear-tickling good theater.”
—Charles Isherwood, New York Times
“A blistering social drama about the racial prejudices that secretly persist in progressive cultural circles.”
—Marilyn Stasio, Variety
“Terrific.… Disgraced… unfolds with speed, energy and crackling wit.… The evening will come to a shocking end, but before that, there is the sparkling conversation, expertly rendered on the page by Akhtar.… Talk of 9/11, of Israel and Iran, of terrorism and airport security, all evokes uncomfortable truths. Add a liberal flow of alcohol and a couple of major secrets suddenly revealed, and you’ve got yourself one dangerous dinner party.… In the end, one can debate what the message of the play really is. Is it that we cannot escape our roots, or perhaps simply that we don’t ever really know who we are, deep down, until something forces us to confront it? Whatever it is, when you finally hear the word ‘disgraced’ in the words of one of these characters, you will no doubt feel a chill down your spine.”
—Jocelyn Noveck, Associated Press
“Offers an engaging snapshot of the challenge for upwardly mobile Islamic Americans in the post-9/11 age.”
—Thom Geier, Entertainment Weekly
“Disgraced stands among recent marks of an increasing and welcome phenomenon: the arrival of South Asian and Middle Eastern Americans as presences in our theater’s dramatis personae, matching their presence in our daily life. Like all such phenomena, it carries a double significance. An achievement and a sign of recognition for those it represents, for the rest of us it constitutes the theatrical equivalent of getting to know the new neighbors—something we had better do if we plan to survive as a civil society.”
—Michael Feingold, Village Voice
“Ninety minutes of sharp contemporary theatre at its argumentative, and disturbing, best.”
—Robert McCrum, The Guardian
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Contents
Cover
Title Page
Welcome
Dedication
Finance and the Figure of Now
Production History
Epigraph
Act One: Scene One
Act One: Scene Two
Act One: Scene Three
Act One: Scene Four
Act One: Scene Five
Act One: Scene Six
Act One: Scene Seven
Act One: Scene Eight
Act One: Scene Nine
Act Two: Scene One
Act Two: Scene Two
Act Two: Scene Three
Act Two: Scene Four
Act Two: Scene Five
Act Two: Scene Six
Act Two: Scene Seven
Act Two: Scene Eight
An Interview with Ayad Akhtar
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by Ayad Akhtar
Praise for The Invisible Hand
Praise for The Who & The What
Praise for Disgraced
Newsletters
Copyright
Copyright
The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Copyright © 2015 by Ayad Akhtar
Cover photograph by Shutterstock/Ollyy
Cover copyright © 2015 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at permissions@hbgusa.com. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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First ebook edition: August 2015
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CAUTION: Professionals and amateurs are hereby warned that all material in this book, being fully protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America, the British Empire, including the Dominion of Canada, and all other countries of the Copyright Union, is subject to royalty. All rights, including professional, amateur, motion picture, recitation, lecturing, public reading, radio and television broadcast, and the rights of translations into foreign languages, are strictly reserved. Worldwide stage rights are controlled exclusively by the author. Please contact the author’s representatives at Creative Artists Agency, 162 Fifth Avenue, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10010, Attn: Chris Till. No professional or nonprofessional performances of the play may be given without obtaining in advance the written permission of Creative Artists Agency and paying the requisite fee. Inquiries concerning all other rights should be addressed to Creative Artists Agency, 162 Fifth Avenue, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10010, Attn: Chris Till.
ISBN 978-0-316-32450-2
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