“Gilda, with an Olive”

Written and Performed by Sophie Zmorrod

Upcoming NYC premiere at Exponential Festival 2025 / directed by Maggie Lee, produced by Kunal Kamath

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Workshop Production at Brown University, Spring 2023 / creative consultants: Rachel Christopher, Charlie Thurston

In the final act of Giuseppe Verdi’s acclaimed opera Rigoletto, Gilda waits inside of a body bag on stage for her cue to die. She has some time to think about her life choices.

JULY

Written by Sophie Zmorrod

Playwrights Lab Workshop Presentation at Brown University: Directed by Sharifa Yasmin and featuring Layan Elwazani, Maddie Groff, David Mattar Merten, and Zaven Ovian.

Semi-Finalist, Irons in the Fire 2024, Fault Line Theatre

Caleb and Amina visit their grandmother in Lebanon every summer. A long journey from their permanent residence in White Plains, New York—where their parents, Sam and Leyla, are currently stuck working. Leyla’s due to join her kids in Lebanon next week, but the IDF has suddenly bombed the only international airport in the country, and a military conflict is underway. Sam and Leyla need to figure out how their kids will make it back safely to the land of manicured lawns, pure bred dogs, and white picket fences, while Caleb and Amina explore the backroads of their homeland, and through the process, discover much more about themselves. Based on a true story told over many tabouleh-filled Thanksgiving dinners, JULY explores the transformation of culture through generations, and the fierce pursuit of belonging in the face of American exceptionalism and political instability in Lebanon, Israel, and the greater South West Asian region.