Scenes from "Exit West": A Play Reading with Luna Stage

A Stories of Exile Program

*This is a free Adult School class. Click on the ticketing link to register.

REGISTRATION IS CLOSED BUT SEATS ARE AVAILABLE.

A 20-minute reading of several scenes from "Exit West" by Mohsin Hamid, our final selection in the Stories of Exile Reading Group, adapted and directed by Luna Stage artistic director Ari Laura Kreith especially for the Library. A discussion with Kreith, a local faith leader, and one of our local Syrian-American neighbors will follow. Featuring Dogmara Dominczyk ("Succession") and Rajesh Bose ("Life of Pi" on Broadway). 

This event is part of the library's Stories of Exile Series, which includes includes a reading group and two additional public programs taking place from September to December 2023. We'll be exploring the refugee experiences of Eastern European Jews in the Holocaust and those of contemporary Syrians who have fled their war-torn country. To find out more and register for the reading group and other programs, go to the Stories of Exile homepage.

ABOUT THE BOOK

"Exit West" by Mohsin Hamid is an international bestseller and winner of the L.A. Times Book Prize for Fiction. Nadia and Saeed, a new couple in an unnamed Middle Eastern city on the brink of war, escape their country through a series of magical doors...and then their troubles begin! “Writing in spare, crystalline prose, Hamid conveys the experience of living in a city under siege with sharp, stabbing immediacy….By mixing the real and the surreal, and using old fairy-tale magic, Hamid has created a fictional universe that captures the global perils percolating beneath today’s headlines, while at the same time painting an unnervingly dystopian portrait of what might lie down the road.”—The New York Times

Dagmara Dominczyk (Nadia) was born in Poland and immigrated to New York City at the age of seven. She has acted in numerous films, TV series, and plays, including the HBO series “Succession,” “The Lost Daughter.” Dominczyk is the author of “The Lullaby of Polish Girls: A Novel.” She is married to the actor Patrick Wilson, with whom she has two sons, and lives in Montclair.

Rajesh Bose (Saeed), a New York-based actor,  was born and educated in the U.S. He has extensive Off-Broadway & Regional theatre credits at some of the best theatres in the country, including the role of the father in the five-time Olivier Award winning play “Life of Pi” on Broadway this year.

Ari Laura Kreith is the Artistic Director of Luna Stage and Founding Artistic Director of Theatre 167. Directing credits at Luna include the site-specific “Ground on Which We Stand, Mrs. Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library, “Heartland,” and “Pirara.” At Theatre 167, she conceived and directed The Jackson Heights Trilogy: “167 Tongues, “You Are Now,” “The Owner of This Suitcase,” and “Jackson Heights 3AM— three full-length plays collaboratively written by 18 playwrights featuring 37 actors in 93 roles in 14 languages, inspired by the world’s most diverse neighborhood.

Rabbi Elliott Tepperman has been the spiritual leader of Bnai Keshet in Montclair since 2002. His rabbinate embraces spiritually courageous Judaism and loving pursuit of shalom and justice for all people. Rabbi Elliott is a founding member of the IAF-affiliated New Jersey Together. He is currently organizing to build the sanctuary movement in NJ with Faith in New Jersey (PICO). He has worked with Bend the Arc teaching Congregation-Based Community Organizing at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and other seminaries. He is a past President of the Montclair Clergy Association and he served as President of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association.

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