December 28, 2005
Washington, DC – The New York Arab American Comedy Festival (NYAACF) will be taking their critically acclaimed Festival on the road for the first time ever as they travel to Los Angeles for three nights: Tuesday, January 24 — Thursday, January 26, 2006. This LA run follows the overwhelming success of the third annual NYAACF held in New York City from November 13-17, 2005 and which saw over one thousand people attend the five nights of sold out events.
The NYAACF, the only festival in the country exclusively dedicated to celebrating the humor of Arab-Americans, now comes to Los Angeles to bring its unique brand of edgy comedy to the West Coast with two nights of comedic theater shows and one night of stand up comedy. No topic is off-limits as the theater pieces comically tackle such topics as Hollywood’s casting of Arabs, Arab-Americans fear of Arab terrorists, and even lessons on how to be a “real Arab.” The stand up comedy show will present the top Arab-American comics in the country as these award winning comedians from NY and LA come together for one special show.
THE COMEDIANS:
The LA festival will showcase the best plays, actors and comedians from the first three years of the NYAACF as these talented performers travel from New York to LA. The performers scheduled to appear in LA include,
* Leila Sbitani, the current host of the popular Nickelodeon show, “Hi-Jinks”
* Ramsey Faragallah who starred Off-Broadway in the highly acclaimed “Guantánamo”: Honor Bound to Defend Freedom, as well as being featured in the hit movie, “The Interpreter”
* Actor Piter Marek, who co-starred in the TNT mini-series “The Grid”
* LA based comedians Ahmed Ahmed, who received the Richard Pryor award at last year’s Edinburgh Festival in Scotland
*Aron Kader, who has been featured on Comedy Central‘s Premium Blend and Fox‘s “The Bernie Mac Show”
* Israeli-Arab actress Hend Ayoub who is co-starring in the award winning and critically acclaimed feature film “Private” which recently opened in LA
* Festival co-founders Dean Obeidallah, a comedian who was awarded this past October, The Bill Hicks Spirit Award for “thought provoking comedy” by the NY Underground Comedy Festival and who has appeared recently on CNN, NPR, and the national Air America radio network
* Maysoon Zayid, comedian and actress, who has been featured on NBC’s Nightly News, MTV, and “As the World Turns”.
WHEN AND WHERE:
The theater shows will be held Tuesday, January 24 and Wednesday, January 25 at 8:00 PM at the Hudson Mainstage Theater.
The stand up comedy show will be held Thursday, January 26 at 7:45 PM at The Laugh Factory in Hollywood
HOW:
Tickets for the theater show can be purchased through by calling (323) 960-7745 or by visiting Plays411 at:
http://www.plays411.com
Tickets for the standup comedy show can be purchased by calling (323) 656-1336 or by visiting the Laugh Factory‘s website:
http://www.laughfactory.com.
CONTACT:
For more information about the Festival, please visit:
http://www.arabcomedy.org/
You may also contact Dean Obeidallah 917-607-4047
MORE ABOUT THE FESTIVAL:
Created in 2003, the NYAACF is both a showcase for talented Arab-American performers and writers as well as a vehicle to dispel negative stereotypes about Arab-Americans. Given the difficulties persons of Middle Eastern descent have faced over the last several years, in this country and abroad, the Festival provides a powerful mix of unique political observations and comedic relief. In its first three years, the Festival has attracted positive media coverage for both the artists involved and the Arab-American community. The NYAACF has received positive media coverage literally around the world as it has been featured on CNN, NPR, BBC and in newspaper articles from New York to Australia. Past participants have included two-time Emmy award winning actor Tony Shalhoub, award winning actress Kathy Najimy and most recently M*A*S*H’s Jamie Farr.