Cider and Cedar, August 16

Scene 1, written and directed by Masahiro Sugano: While planning a gala for The Grand Cinema, an Arab man (Sameer Arshad) and a Jewish woman (Natasha Nelina) discover how much they have in common, having grown up feeling like outsiders in their home countries and in the US. 

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Sameer Arshad  is a Persian-Turk-Arab-Indian-Pakistani playwright, writer, actor, animator, film-maker, comic maker and visual artist based in Seattle. Several of Sameer’s plays, short and long, have received productions in the Seattle area (Crewmates, 2018, Annex Theatre; Millennitopia, 2017, 14/48 Nordo; Anything Can Write A Play, 2024, 14/48 Projects: Can We Abolish ICE Now?, 2024, 14/48 Projects). Sameer has also acted in several productions in the Seattle Area as well, with Centerstage Theatre (10 Acrobats), Macha Theatre Works (What to expect when you’re simulating?) Parley Productions (The List) and SOAC (Real Talk). Sameer is a trained linguist and also provides services in cultural consulting and dialect training.

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Natasha Nelina  is a licensed psychotherapist based in Tacoma. She was born in the Soviet Union which she left in 1989 with her 9-year old son. As a daughter of a psychologist and an actor, she has always been interested in the healing power of theater. She uses experiential therapeutic methods, such as Psychodrama to help her clients heal and find new creative solutions and ways of being which align with their true essence. Contact her at natashanelina1@gmail.com.