The World Premiere Production of Seattle-based Playwright Yussef El Guindi’s Threesome is playing at Portland Center Stage through March 8, 2015.
Threesome is about a couple named Leila and Rashid, Egyptian Americans with ties to Cairo, who attempt to solve their relationship issues by inviting a relative stranger into their bedroom to engage in a threesome. What begins as a hilariously awkward evening soon becomes an experience fraught with secrets, raising issues of sexism, possession, and independence. Threesome was one of four works selected from hundreds of submissions to appear at JAW 2013, where playwrights collaborate with directors, dramaturgs, actors, and other theatre professionals to develop their scripts. During the public staged readings at JAW (while the script was still in development) audiences described the play as “arresting,” “intriguing,” “heart wrenching,” and “hilarious.”
The script has since been further fine tuned. This world premiere joins a healthy roster of recent JAW scripts that went on to become world premieres at PCS, including The People’s Republic of Portland, The Body of an American, Anna Karenina, The North Plan, Futura and Crazy Enough. Threesome is recommended for ages 17+; contains male and female nudity, strong language, and mature content (including rape). There is no late seating or re-entry in the Ellyn Bye Studio.
While the awkward bedroom scene in the first act starts out funny and leads to a thought provoking discussion on Arab-American relations, the play is anything but funny in ending. At intermission I was commenting to my theatre mate how much I was enjoying the show, even though it really wasn’t what I was expecting. I was pleasantly surprised just how much I was enjoying the show (once I got past all the jiggling body parts). By the time we got to the second act, I really wasn’t sure I was watching the same play. The play touches on a variety of seriously deep undertones, themes, and political topics—much more than can be discussed and processed in the time allotted, for sure. And while my brain welcomes the critical thinking and engagement, it was a bit much for such a short period of time. I felt like I was on a roller coaster ride, and often felt like ideas were being thrown at me to be caught for processing later on. Maybe that was the playwright’s intention.
That said, I highly recommend you go see the show.
ABOUT PLAYWRIGHT YUSSEF EL GUINDI
Celebrated Seattle-based playwright Yussef El Guindi is a recipient of the Middle East America Distinguished Playwright Award, the Steinberg/American Theater Critics Association’s New Play Award, the Gregory Award, Seattle Times’ “Footlight Award” for Best World Premiere Play, the Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award and M. Elizabeth Osborn New Play Award from the American Theatre Critics Association. His work has been published in American Theatre Magazine, Dramatists Play Service and McFarland Books; and featured in a collection of Best American Short Plays published by Applause Books, among others. Yussef El Guindi’s most recent productions include The Ramayana (co-adaptor with Stephanie Timm) at ACT; Pilgrims Musa and Sheri in the New World at ACT and Center Repertory Company; and Language Rooms co-produced by the Asian American Theater Company and Golden Thread Productions in San Francisco, at the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia (premiere), and at the Los Angeles Theater Center. El Guindi was born in Cairo, left Egypt at the age of four, was raised in London and returned to Cairo to earn his undergraduate degree in English and Comparative Literature. He holds an M.F.A. from Carnegie-Mellon University and was a playwright-in-residence at Duke University. He moved to Seattle in 1994 and received his U.S. citizenship in 1996.
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