From Sylvia Khoury
I am sitting down to write this letter in the midst of the rehearsal process on my play, Selling Kabul, at Playwrights Horizons. The sentence itself, in light of what we have lived the past two years rings of a miracle. It feels like just yesterday that we were halting our original in-person rehearsal process in March of 2020, then trialing a tentative zoom rehearsal and ultimately ceding to our new reality, as every other production, business, and enterprise was forced to do.
I am going to start by asking you to support Playwrights Horizons because of its unwavering support of and commitment to its artists, even in extremely difficult times. The past two years have been a time of tremendous uncertainty. For me personally this was most acute while completing my medical training doing triage work and then on the COVID floors at the hospital.
Playwrights Horizons was the one constant through this trying time. Against all odds, every month there was a phone call from Artistic Director Adam Greenfield in which the commitment to tell this urgent story was repeated. Sylvia, we will be doing this play. Playwrights Horizons never once wavered in its commitment to this play and to me. I never once doubted that our set would one day be inhabited by the characters of the play in front of a live audience.
I would also like to ask you to support Playwrights Horizons because of how it encourages and creates space for artistic growth. I have never felt so supported as an artist as I do at Playwrights Horizons. I have encountered tremendous thoughtfulness and respect as I grow as a writer, as I learn my own process, as I step more fully into what it is to be a playwright. Playwrights Horizons has not only welcomed my artistic growth but celebrated it to a degree I could not have imagined.
Finally, I would like to ask you to support Playwrights Horizons because it is eager to challenge its audiences. I am honored to be part of a lineage of writers who strive to tackle preconceived notions, prompt self-examination, and hold a mirror up to society. My play, first written in 2015 about the American failure to honor its commitment to the Afghan men and women who worked with U.S. forces, is tragically more relevant now than ever before. Playwrights Horizons daily demonstrates that it understands the seriousness of mounting this play and the importance of asking ourselves and our audiences what it means to be an American.
Please support Playwrights Horizons in any way you can. Their impact is tremendous, and yours can be, too.
Sylvia Khoury
Playwright, Selling Kabul
November 2021
SUPPRT PLAYWRIGHTS HORIZONS TODAY
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