Dakar 2000
World Premiere
written by Rajiv Joseph
directed by May Adrales
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OFF-BROADWAY AT
New York City Center Stage I
2024-2025 Season
In Senegal on the eve of Y2K, an idealistic Peace Corps volunteer survives a mysterious car accident. An imposing State Department operative arrives at his hospital where she immediately takes command of the situation and his safety. Though they couldn’t be more different, they form an unlikely relationship. But when it becomes clear that they both have secrets, the volunteer is roped into a darker side of public service – one he can’t come back from. Unpredictable at every turn, this world-premiere thriller was commissioned by Manhattan Theatre Club.
Written by Rajiv Joseph (Pulitzer Prize finalist for Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo; King James at MTC) and directed by May Adrales (Vietgone and Poor Yella Rednecks at MTC).
Dakar 2000 was commissioned by MTC through the Bank of America New Play Program.
Creative
Rajiv Joseph
Playwright
Rajiv Joseph’s play Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo was a 2010 Pulitzer Prize finalist for Drama. He has twice won the Obie Award for Best New American Play, first in 2016 with Guards at the Taj (also a 2016 Lortel Winner for Best Play) and then in 2018 with Describe the Night. Other plays include King James, Letters of Suresh, Archduke, The North Pool, Gruesome Playground Injuries and Animals Out of Paper. He also wrote the libretto for the opera Shalimar the Clown, based on the novel by Salman Rushdie. He has written for TV and film and has been awarded artistic grants from the Whiting Foundation, United States Artists and the Harold & Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust. He served for three years in the Peace Corps in Senegal.
May Adrales
Director
May Adrales is a director, artistic leader, teacher and mother; she has directed over 30
world premieres. Her work has been seen most recently at Manhattan Theatre Club (Anchuli Felicia King’s Golden Shield, Qui Nguyen’s Vietgone and Poor Yella Rednecks)Second Stage (Rajiv Joseph’s Letters of Suresh), Yale Rep (falcon girls), Guthrie Theater, Huntington Theater, Signature Theater, Lincoln Center, The
Public Theater, WP, New York Theater Workshop, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Seattle
Rep, Milwaukee Rep and South Coast Rep. She was awarded the prestigious
Ammerman Award at Arena Stage and Theater Communications Group’s Alan
Schneider award for freelance directors. She is a finalist for the SDCF Zelda Finchandler Award, Drama League Directing Fellow, Van Lier Directing Fellow, WP Lab Director, SoHo Rep Writers/Directors Lab and New York
Theater Workshop directing fellow, TCG New Generations Grantee, SDC Denham
Fellowship and PaulGreen Directing Award. She served as an Associate Artistic
Director at Milwaukee Rep; Artistic Associate at The Playwrights Center; Artistic
Associate at The Public Theater; and Director of Artistic Programs and Artistic Director
at The Lark. She serves on the board of Theater Communications Group. May has
directed and taught at Juilliard, Harvard/ART, ACT, Fordham, NYU and Bard College.
She is currently the Director of the Theatre Program and Assistant Professor at
Fordham University. May has served on faculty at the Yale School of Drama and
Brown/Trinity MFA program. MFA, Yale School of Drama. (www.mayadrales.net)
Rajiv Joseph
Playwright
May Adrales
Director