Disgraced (2012) is the first stage play by playwright, novelist, and screenwriter Ayad Akhtar.[1] It premiered in Chicago and has had Off-Broadway and Off West End engagements. The play, which won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Drama,[2] opened on Broadway at the Lyceum Theater October 23, 2014.[3] Disgraced has also been recognized with a 2012 Joseph Jefferson Award for New Work – Play or Musical and a 2013 Obie Award for Playwriting. The 2014 Broadway transfer earned a nomination for Tony Award for Best Play in 2015.[4]
The 90-minute, one-act play is centered on sociopolitical themes such as Islamophobia and the self-identity of Muslim-American citizens.[5][6] It explores a dinner party among four people with very different backgrounds. As discussion turns to politics and religion, the mood quickly becomes heated. Described as a "combustible powder keg of identity politics,"[7] the play depicts racial and ethnic prejudices that "secretly persist in even the most progressive cultural circles."[8] It is also depicts the challenge for upwardly mobile Muslim Americans in post-9/11 America.[9] Productions have included performances by Aasif Mandvi and Erik Jensen.
