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.
National Queer Theater’s Criminal Queerness Festival is a co-production with HERE Arts Center
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
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Written by LOUR
Workshop Presentation Directed by Osh Ashruf
Music Directed by Déa Thatcher
Choreographed by Nikhil Saboo
Dates: June 10th – June 13th, 2026
faggy faafi Cairo boy
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Written by Bazeed
Directed by Shadi Ghaheri
Dates: June 17th – June 20th, 2026
Syrian Soap
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Written by E. Zaalan
Directed by Tallie Medel for Criminal Queerness Festival, original direction by Natasha Mercado
Dates: June 24th- June 27th, 2026
AREA D – click here for tickets
Wednesday, June 10 @ 9PM (NYC Pride Night)
Thursday, June 11 @ 9PM (OPENING NIGHT + Disco Habibi: Pre Show Mixer)
Friday, June 12 @ 9PM (Immigrant Artists Night)
Saturday, June 13 @ 5PM (Feat. Pre-Show Teach-In on Pinkwashing)
Saturday, June 13 @ 9PM
FAGGY FAAFI CAIRO BOY – click here for tickets
Wednesday, June 17 @ 8:30PM (SWANA Artists Night)
Thursday, June 18 @ 8:30
Saturday, June 20 @ 5PM
Saturday, June 20 @ 8:30PM (Feat. Post-Show Drag Show)
SYRIAN SOAP – click here for tickets
Wednesday, June 24 @ 8:30PM
Thursday, June 25 @ 8:30PM (Feat. Pre-Show Clown Workshop)
Friday, June 26 @ 8:30PM (Feat. Post Show Talkback)
Saturday, June 27 @ 4PM
Learn More About Engagement Events Here.
Area D
Written by LOUR
Workshop Presentation Directed by Osh Ashruf
Music Directed by Déa Thatcher
Choreographed by Nikhil Saboo
Dates: June 9th – June 13th, 2026
Featuring:
Nick Abouzeid as Rami
Abubakr Ali as Samir
Nadia Dandashi as Lara
John-Andrew Morrison as Avery Kent
Amelia Prochaska as Dina
A Palestinian pop band lands an unexpected shot on the Eurovision stage. What starts as a lucky break for Lara and her feisty bandmates spirals into a glitter-drenched spectacle, forcing them to wrestle with how far they will go to get their voices heard and save one of their own. AREA D is a bold, genre-smashing musical fusing Arab pop and electronic sounds. This workshop presentation of Area D is part of National Queer Theater’s 2026 Criminal Queerness Festival.
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.
Click here for a social narrative describing what to expect during AREA D.
faggy faafi Cairo boy
Written by Bazeed
Directed by Shadi Ghaheri
Dates: June 17- June 20th, 2026
Featuring:
Hassan Nazari-Robati as Yasser
Anton Obeid as Baba
Jakeem Powell as Jacob
George Shakkour as Mo
Jae W.B. as Angel G.
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.
Click here for a social narrative describing
what to expect during faggy faafi Cairo Boy!
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
Featuring:
E. Zaalan as Ancestor
Eat, pray, bathe *with your ancestors in an intergalactic bathhouse in the afterlife and find out if you are your ancestor’s wildest dreams–or worst nightmare! Receive channeled advice, poetry, and a surprise visit from a traditional Syrian bathroom slipper (which may or may not be a metaphor for life under fascism). Underneath the silliness and suds, Syrian Soap is a love letter to revolution and unlocking joy and self-expression in a world on fire. And a reminder…your healing goes back 7 generations—but so do your f*ck-ups!
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.