Brown/Trinity Rep MFA Programs Present Alabaster

Providence, RI: The Brown University/Trinity Repertory Company MFA Programs in Acting and Directing present Alabaster by Audrey Cefaly, directed by Sharifa Yasmin. This production runs from March 7 through 17 at the Pell Chafee Performance Center on 87 Empire St. in Providence. General admission is $15 with discounted prices for seniors and students. Tickets go on sale Thursday, February 15 at 12:00 pm and can be purchased at Trinity Rep’s Ticket Office on 201 Washington St., by phone at (401) 351-4242, or online at  www.trinityrep.com/alabaster  

About The Play 
After a tornado barrels through town leaving nothing but death and destruction, only June, her goat Weezy, and Weezy’s mother Bib live to tell the tale. When a prominent photographer, Alice, visits to take pictures of June's scars, both are forced to reconcile the pain of loss and recovery. This darkly comic, all-femme, southern drama explores the meaning and purpose of art, the necessity of scars, and the journey to boldly heal.

"Alabaster came to me at a very difficult time in my life: it was the holidays, and I was spending them alone after coming out to my family,” director Sharifa Yasmin said. “I was in pain, I was isolated, I was not in a good place. It could not have been a more perfect moment to read this play about goats. A play about the acceptance of loss, the ugliness of healing, the courage of femininity, and the joy at the end of the rainbow. I feel this is such a necessary story so that women like me, like June, like Alice, like Weezy, and like Bib, can celebrate that triumph of moving forward."

Cast And Creative Team 
Sharifa Yasmin (she/her) is a trans Arab-American director, actor, playwright, and intimacy coordinator. Sharifa focuses on work that speaks to the heartbeat of humanity, often uplifting the voices of those most marginalized. She has completed directing fellowships with The Drama League, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Manhattan Theatre Club, Geva Theatre, and was a Eugene O’Neill national directing fellow. Some of Sharifa’s favorite directing projects include Disgraced (American Stage), Beirut, One Flea Spare (Brown/Trinity Rep), The War Boys (Hangar Theater), 3:59AM (Actors Theatre of Louisville), In the Blood (Duende Productions), and Mosque4Mosque (National Queer Theater). Sharifa was the inaugural recipient of the Barbara Whitman Award at the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (SDCF) in 2021 for her work in directing. She is a member of The Drama League's Directors Council and will complete her MFA in Directing at Brown/Trinity Rep this spring.

Sharifa will work alongside Afsaneh Aayani (set designer), Nia Safarr Banks (costume designer), Jennifer Fok (lighting designer), and Hanna Gluvna (sound designer). The cast of this production includes Brown/Trinity Rep students Tay Bass as June, Layan Elwazani as Alice, and Allison Jones as Weezy. Trinity Rep resident company member and Brown/Trinity Rep faculty member Anne Scurria will play Bib.

The Brown/Trinity Rep MFA Programs provide a three-year professional training program under the auspices of an Ivy League university and Rhode Island’s Tony Award-winning theater company. Brown University’s Department of Theater and Performance Studies is internationally recognized for the quality of its faculty and instruction. Trinity Rep, with its deep tradition of resident artists, provides powerful artistic assets and creates a firm foundation for a new generation of theater artists.