Event Details

Scholar Ilan Stavans and actor/writer Isaiah Stavchansky join us to discuss their anthology What this Place Makes Me, featuring seven award-winning plays that herald a profound shift in what it means to be an American, an immigrant, and an artist on today's stage.

This event will take place in person at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library on the 7th Floor.

What this Place Makes Me: Contemporary Plays on Immigration

By award-winning playwrights Shayok Misha Chowdhury, Hansol Jung, Martyna Majok, Mona Mansour, Charlie Oh, Mfoniso Udofia, and jesús i. valles

Published by Restless Books, What this Place Makes Me is a collection of seven award-winning plays by rising stars of contemporary theater that herald a profound shift in what it means to be an American, an immigrant, and an artist on today’s stage. This trailblazing collection of works by first- and second-generation immigrants to the U.S. unites seven exhilarating new voices of Lebanese, Nigerian, Korean, Bengali, Polish, and Mexican descent. Echoing beyond the stage, their stories draw on common experiences of displacement, alienation, and the sense of living in suspension; sometimes torn between two worlds, sometimes plummeting into the spaces between them.  

Amid the tangled relationships, vengeful landscapes, and buried family mysteries something universal flickers: the search for safety and the promise of home. Both haunting and galvanizing, What this Place Makes Me will be a vital touchstone for years to come.

To join the event in person | Doors will open 30 minutes before the program begins. For free events, we generally overbook to ensure a full house. Priority will be given to those who have registered in advance, but registration does not guarantee admission. All registered seats are released shortly before start time, and seats may become available at that time. A standby line will form 30 minutes before the program.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Ilan Stavans is a leading Jewish Mexican scholar and critic, is Lewis-Sebring Professor of Humanities and Latin American and Latino Culture at Amherst College, the publisher of Restless Books, and a consultant to the Oxford English Dictionary. Translated into numerous languages, his books have been adapted into film, radio,  theater and television. Born in Mexico City, he has translated Jorge Luis Borges, Pablo Neruda, and Juan Rulfo into English, Emily Dickinson and Elizabeth Bishop into Spanish, Isaac Bashevis Singer from Yiddish, Yehuda Amichai from Hebrew, and Don Quixote of La Mancha and Alice in Wonderland into Spanglish. He hosted the syndicated PBS television show Conversations with Ilan Stavans. He is a cofounder of the Great Books Summer Program at Amherst, Stanford, and Oxford.

Isaiah Stavchansky is a Mexican-American actor, writer, editor, and educator. His work has been developed and performed with The Workshop Theater, Atlantic Acting School, The Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Tank NYC, and Kenyon College. He has performed at The Williamstown Theatre Festival, Chautauqua Theater Company, and The Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater. He is a graduate of Kenyon College and Atlantic Acting School.

ACCESSIBILITY NOTES

In-Person

• Assistive listening devices and/or hearing loops are available at the venue.

• You can request a free ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or CART (Communication Access Real-Time Translation) captioning service by emailing your request at least two weeks in advance of the event: email accessibility@nypl.org or use this Gmail template.

• This venue is fully accessible to wheelchairs.

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All programs are subject to change or cancellation.  

The 7 Stories Up Series at SNFL is made possible by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF).