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