National Queer Theater’s Criminal Queerness Festival (CQF) showcases groundbreaking new works written by artists from countries where queerness is criminalized or censored. At a time when authoritarianism is on the rise globally, CQF elevates refugee, asylee, and immigrant queer voices and enriches the cultural fabric of New York City by introducing audiences to bold, original works that challenge Western norms and inspire global change.
Since the inception of the festival in 2019, National Queer Theater has showcased 19 new works by visionary artists from Syria, Venezuela, Uganda, Iraq, China, Pakistan, Kenya, Ukraine, Cuba, Lebanon, and Poland. The festival is the official theater event of NYC Pride and recipient of a 2020 NYC Mayor’s Grant for Cultural Impact Award and a 2025 Obie Award. It has been featured in The New York Times, The Advocate, and NBC News. NQT partners with community groups such as Artistic Freedom Initiative and venues such as HERE Arts Center, Lincoln Center, and PAC NYC to amplify the festival’s impact, recruiting audiences into the fight for LGBTQ+ decriminalization.
The Criminal Queerness Festival is supported by generous funders including New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; the JKW Foundation; and the Terrence McNally Foundation.
Area D
Written by LOUR
Directed by Osh Ashruf
Dates: June 17th – June 21st, 2026
Syrian Soap
Written by E. Zaalan
Directed by Tallie Medel for Criminal Queerness Festival, original direction by Natasha Mercado
Original direction by Natasha Mercado
Dates: June 24 – June 27th, 2026
faggy faafi Cairo boy
Written by Bazeed
Directed by Shadi Ghaheri
Dates: June 9th- June 13th, 2026
FAGGY FAAFI CAIRO BOY – tickets
Tuesday, June 9th @ 8:30 pm
Wednesday, June 10th @ 8:30 pm (OPENING)
Thursday, June 11th @ 8:30 pm
Friday, June 12th @ 8:30 pm
Saturday, June 13th @ 4 pm and @ 8:30 pm
AREA D – tickets
Wednesday, June 17th @ 9 pm
Thursday, June 18th @ 9 pm (OPENING)
Saturday, June 20th @ 5 pm and @ 9 pm
Sunday, June 21st @ 5 pm and @ 9 pm
SYRIAN SOAP – tickets
Wednesday, June 24th @ 8:30 pm
Thursday, June 25th @ 8:30 pm (OPENING)
Friday, June 26th @ at 8:30 pm
Saturday, June 27th @ at 4 pm
Area D
Written by LOUR
Directed by Osh Ashruf
Dates: June 9th – June 13th, 2026
A scrappy Palestinian band lands an unexpected shot on the Eurovision stage. What starts as a lucky break spirals into a glitter-drenched spectacle, forcing the band to wrestle with whether visibility is worth compromising their identity. AREA D is a bold, genre-smashing musical fusing Arab-pop, punk, and electronic sounds.
LOUR (Lour Yasin) is a Palestinian performer, composer-lyricist, and writer based in New York City. Born in Jerusalem and raised in the West Bank, she creates work at the intersection of Arab musical traditions, pop, punk, and hip-hop – forging bold new sounds and stories for the stage. Named one of Arab America’s “30 Under 30” in 2024, she was the first Palestinian selected for the Miranda Family Fellowship (2022). Her theatrical works include AREA D, Under The Sheet (IRT Theatre/Moxie Incubator, 2024), The Happy Sunshine Facility, a new folk-pop musical, Arabica, a musical television series, and Influencer Funeral, a play in development. Her work has been presented at Ars Nova, The Public Theater, La MaMa ETC, the Dramatists Guild Foundation, the SheNYC Arts Festival, Barzakh, University Settlement, and the Lenfest Center for the Arts, among others. In addition to theatre, LOUR writes and produces music for Arab pop artists across the Middle East, with work featured in Rolling Stone, Scene Noise, and on Apple Music. She is a 2026 MacDowell Fellow, a 2025 SoundLab Finalist, and the subject of an upcoming BBC documentary.
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Syrian Soap
Written by E. Zaalan
Directed by Tallie Medel for Criminal Queerness Festival
Original direction by Natasha Mercado
Dates: June 24 – June 26th, 2026
Eat, Pray, Bathe with your exasperated ancestors in an intergalactic bathhouse and ponder: What kind of future ancestor do I wish to become? How far am I willing to go to express my authentic self? How much lotion is it acceptable to put on in front of other people? Full of heart and irreverence, Syrian Soap is part clown show, part stand-up, part fever dream.
E. Zaalan is a Syrian standup, clown, and conflict mediator. They made a promise to the martyrs of the Syrian Revolution that they would use their voice to tell the truth–so they had no choice but to become a comedian. They have studied comedy with the Idiot Workshop, Groundlings, Upright Citizen’s Brigade, and iO Theater. Syrian Soap is the winner of the 2026 Hollywood Fringe Scholarship, and Zaalan’s co-created sketch and standup show won “Best of SF Fringe Festival” and “Best Box Office” at San Francisco Fringe Festival 2024.
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faggy faafi Cairo boy
Written by Bazeed
Directed by Shadi Ghaheri
Dates: June 17- June 20th, 2026
In the space between living and whatever the hell comes next, between daddy issues and Daddy issues, between the city that never sleeps and the city that never even blinks… Mohammad, the prodigal, closeted son returns to Cairo, and to his father’s rapidly failing, irrevocable body. Distanced from his NYC boyfriend, Mohammad reunites with an old Cairo flame who now has a life of his own. And who’s to judge him, besides that angry little angel in the corner of the hospital room?
Bazeed is a multi–award winning Egyptian immigrant, playwright, poet, performer, editor, literary translator, plant-dad, licensed massage therapist, and very decent cook, living in Brooklyn. Recipient of the Dramatists Guild’s Lanford Wilson Award, their work across genres has been supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, Sundance Institute, the Arab American National Museum, the Civilians, Queer Art Mentorship, and Trans Lab, among others. Their first play, peace camp org, recipient of the Fresh Fruit Festival Spirit Award, is published by Oberon Books, UK.
They are currently at work on Ceasefire Later!, a verbatim play documenting the genocide in Gaza, and on Sisters at Sunrise, a bilingual musical play commissioned by Noor Theatre, NYC. To procrastinate from facing the blank page, they run a performance salon series, and are a slow student of Arabic music.