APEIROGON:
RAMI AND BASSAM
Adapted by Avner Ben-Amos from the novel, Apeirogon, by Colum McCann,
with Dramaturgy and Original Direction by Sinai Peter
with Kathryn Chase Bryer
January 27 – February 21, 2026
Part of this year’s
Voices From a Changing Middle EastFestival
JUMP to:
SYNOPSIS | CREATIVE TEAM
SYNOPSIS
A theatrically distilled adaptation of the acclaimed National Book Award winning novel "Apeirogon" by Colum McCann that tells the fractured story of two fathers, one Israeli and one Palestinian, brought together by the loss of their daughters. Despite being raised to hate one another, they find common ground in their grief and form an unlikely friendship. The novel, inspired by the real-life stories of Rami Elhanan, an Israeli, whose daughter, Smadar, was killed by suicide bombers, and Bassam Aramin, a Palestinian, whose daughter, Abir, was killed by a rubber bullet shot by the IDF. Despite their backgrounds and the hatred ingrained in their societies, the two fathers accidentally connect and, through their shared grief and trauma, recognize the humanity in each other's stories and history to begin a difficult journey of healing and reconciliation. A workshop reading in English presented with live music and projection design following the production’s world premiere staging in Hebrew and Arabic at the Jaffa Theatre this fall.
MEET THE CREATIVE TEAM
Avner Ben-Amos (Adapter) is a playwright and historian, recipient of the Israeli Playwright of the Year Award (2017), with director Micha Lewensohn, for the adaptation of David Grossman’s novel A Horse Walks into a Bar (staged at the Cameri Theatre, 2017 - 2025). Ben-Amos specializes in docudramas and the adaptations of novels for the stage. Among his plays: Dionysus at the Center, with Ruth Kanner, based on Tamar Berger’s eponymous book (Ruth Kanner’s Theater Group, 2004-2005); He Walked through the Fields, with Mor Frank, based on Moshe Shamir’s eponymous novel (Ruth Kanner’s Theater Group, 2013-2014); Year Zero: 1929, based on Hillel Cohen’s book, Year Zero of the Arab-Israeli Conflict 1929, at Jaffa Theater (2021-2022). Ben-Amos is also a professor of history of education at Tel-Aviv University. He studies collective memory and political rituals in modern France and Israel.
Sinai Peter (original direction and dramaturgy) is an accomplished theater director, producer, educator and actor who’s worked for over half a century in Israel, Europe and the US. Together with The San Francisco Mime Troupe team, he co-wrote and toured with the play Seeing Double which won OBIE Award in 1990. Since that time, he’s served as Artistic Director of Neve Zedek Theater in Tel Aviv, and the Haifa Municipal Theatre where he has directed The Swan, Clearing, The Graduate, Chimps, The Resistible Rise of Arturo UI, Transfer, Machinal, and Unsung Heroes, a project based on civilians experience during the Lebanese war. Other Israeli credits of note include A Man's a Man at the Khan Theatre in Jerusalem, Oved Shabbat (The Return) by Hanna Eady and Edward Mast at the Al Midan Theater before its Washington DC premiere in 2017 at Mosaic as part of “Voices From a Changing Middle East Festival.”
For Theater J, where the Middle East Festival was born, Sinai has directed Motti Lerner’s Pangs of The Messiah (2007), Hillel Mittelpunkt’s The Accident (2009) and the Cameri Theater production of Return To Haifa based on the Palestinian novella by Gassan Kanafani, adapted by Boaz Gaon, which performed in DC in Hebrew and Arabic for 17 sold out performances in 2011. In 2014, he directed Motti Lerner’s The Admission which transferred to Studio Theatre, and then a year later, opened at the Jaffa Theatre where it ran for two years. In 2016, Sinai returned to DC to teach at American University as a Visiting Professor and directed the world premiere of Lerner’s After The War for Mosaic. Together with Chel Alon he co-directed The Peacock of Silwan by Alma Ganihar at the Akko Festival for Alternative Theatre and then at The Jaffa Theatre. Most recent directing credits in Israel include Yulia, an adaptation of Strindberg’s Miss Julie by Israel Hameiri in The Studio Theater of Haifa; Ana min elYahud by Ilanit Swissa inspired by Almog Behar for Jaffa Theater. He directed Shnat Efes/Year Zero a docudrama about the bloody events of 1929 in Palestine by Avner Ben Amos, inspired by Hilell Kohen at Jaffa Theater. He's directed Israeli premieres of American writers like David Ives' New Jerusalem, and George Brant's The Tender Age and Grounded. He has acted in television dramas in the roles of David Ben Gurion and Eliezer Ben Yehuda and in movies such as Shuru and Beyond the Sea. He has acted at the Haifa Municipal Theatre, Bet Lessin Theatre and the Orna Porat Children and Youth Theatre and has taught for decades at Seminar Hakibutzim and the college HaGalilee HaMaaravi. Other teaching residencies abroad, have included Kuala Lampur, Malaysia, Uganda, and Kyrgyzstan.
KATHRYN CHASE BRYER (DIRECTOR) is the Director of Theatre at Imagination Stage. She is a theatre artist with a background in directing, acting, dramaturgy, teaching, and administration and holds a B.S. from Northwestern University. For Imagination Stage, Kathryn has directed over 50 productions in the last 25 years and has helped to develop and commission over a dozen scripts. In addition, she has worked at many theatres in the DMV area. Awards and recognition: 2014 The BFG, Helen Hayes for Best Scenic Design and Best Production, Theatre for Young Audiences, 2015 Wiley and the Hairy Man, Best Production, Theatre for Young Audiences, 2018, Helen Hayes for Best Director of a Musical Wonderland, Alice’s Rock and Roll Adventures and Best Production Theatre for Young Audiences and 2021 Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed the Rock Experience Helen Hayes Best Production for Theatre for Young Audiences, and New Kid, for Imagination Stage Learning thru Theatre project at Planet Word. In addition to her duties at Imagination Stage, she has directed Scapin (2014) and Peter and the Starcatcher (winner of Helen Hayes 2018 Best Ensemble, Musical) and The Last Five Years at Constellation Theatre Company, The Late Wedding (2017) at the Hub Theatre and Fly By Night (2018) at 1st Stage, VA (nominated for 11 Helen Hayes Awards winning 5 including Best Director of a Musical, Hayes), The Wolves at Next Stop Theatre in Herndon, Va., The Oldest Boy at Spooky Action Theatre, American Spies and other Homegrown Fables at the Hub Theatre, A Doll House, The Late Wedding at UMD and Dracula a Feminist Revenge Tragedy at UMBC, Urinetown at American University and upcoming Freaky Friday at Catholic Univ.
Dramaturgy
Colum McCann (Author) is an Irish writer of literary fiction. He is known as an international writer who believes in the "democracy of storytelling" and is the author of the National Book Award Winning Novel, Apeirogon. McCann was born February 28, 1965 in Dublin, Ireland, and currently resides in New York. He has won numerous awards, including the U.S. National Book Award and the International Dublin Literary Award, and his work has been published in over 40 languages as well as being published in many American and international publications. He also is the co-founder and president of Narrative 4, an international empathy education nonprofit. McCann is the author of seven novels, including Apeirogon (2020), TransAtlantic (2013) and the National Book Award-winning Let the Great World Spin (2009). He has also written three collections of short stories, including Thirteen Ways of Looking, released in October 2015. American Mother was released in March 2024 and tells the story of Diane Foley, whose son, James Foley, was captured and killed by ISIS while serving as a freelance combat reporter in Syria. His latest novel, Twist, was released in March 2025.
This extraordinary novel is the fruit of a seed planted when the novelist Colum McCann met the real Bassam and Rami on a trip with the non-profit organization Narrative 4. McCann was moved by their willingness to share their stories with the world, by their hope that if they could see themselves in one another, perhaps others could too.