In a sense, the playwright Mona Mansour has been working on “The Vagrant Trilogy” for fifteen years; in another sense, she’s been working up to it her whole life.

The originally announced ensemble cast, each playing multiple roles from a total of 19 characters across three generations and multiple decades, have all returned for the post-pandemic premiere, including Tala Ashe as Abir, Ramsey Faragallah as Ghassan, Osh Ghanimah as Hamzi, Nadine Malouf as Jamile, Rudy Roushdi as Jul, and Hadi Tabbal as Adham. Bassam Abdelfattah and Caitlin Nasema Cassidy are understudies.

NEW YORK CITY: The 2020 Kesselring Prize for playwriting—a $25,000 award given annually to an outstanding playwright deserving of national recognition—will be presented to Mona Mansour by the National Arts Club during a virtual ceremony on Thurs., Feb. 25 at 6 p.m. This marks the 40th year of the Kesselring Prize, presented annually by the club, and the evening will include a special look back at the history of the award, in addition to the tribute to Mansour.

NEW YORK CITY: The National Arts Club has announced that playwright Mona Mansour will be awarded the 2020 Kesselring Prize for playwrighting. This $25,000 award, which includes a two-week residency and one-year membership at the Gramercy Park club, is given annually to “an outstanding playwright deserving of national recognition.” The award will be presented during a virtual ceremony later this year.

The Public Theater has canceled all activities and live performances through May 17, with Joe’s Pub events canceled through May 31. This impacts the scheduled productions of The Vagrant Trilogy, a trio of plays by Mona Mansour, that had been set to run March 17–April 26, and The Visitor, a new Tom Kitt-Brian Yorkey musical that was scheduled to run March 24–May 10.

The Public Theater's upcoming production of The Vagrant Trilogy by Mona Mansour will feature a cast made up of Tala Ashe, Ramsey Faragallah, Osh Ghanimah, Nadine Malouf, Rudy Roushdi, and Hadi Tabbal. The six actors will play 19 roles in Mansour's drama spanning four decades and three generations of a family uprooted by war and politics.

An epic story told in three parts, The Vagrant Trilogy delves into the Palestinian struggle for home and identity. Directed by Mark Wing-Davey, the production will begin March 17 ahead of an April 1 opening.

“‘You never know where something takes you as a writer… you think you want to write about one thing and it leads you to another path.’

These are the words of Mona Mansour, a Lebanese American playwright who set out to write a play about her father’s choice not to go back to Lebanon. Unexpectedly, she ended up following a character who is a refugee in a Palestinian camp.”