The Use of Stories takes this child’s question from Salman Rushdie’s Haroun and the Sea of Stories as its point of departure, exploring why storytelling matters in moments of fear, fracture, and censorship. Interweaving moments from Haroun with Rushdie’s reflections on discovering The Wizard of Oz in boyhood, the performance moves between myth and memory, childhood wonder and adult reckoning—revealing stories as acts of refuge and resistance. Blending spoken text, live music, and movement, the piece asks who decides what counts as “true,” why imagination is so often treated as a threat, and how stories help us find our way—again and again—back home.
Cast Members & Creative Team
Omar Metwally is an actor and director. He has appeared in numerous films and television shows, including The Affair, Munich, Rendition, Mr Robot, Miral, and RAMY, among others. Omar has also worked on stages in New York and around the country, receiving a Tony Award nomination for his work in the Broadway play Sixteen Wounded. He created the role of Humayun in Rajiv Joseph’s Guards at the Taj, for which he received an Obie Award. Omar is a graduate of the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. He can currently be seen as Michael Hamda on the Fox drama DOC.
Arian Moayed is an Iranian-born, Emmy and Tony nominated actor, and co-Founder of the Obie winning Waterwell, a New York City non-profit that brings art and civics together. As a writer/director, Arian has created the Emmy-nominated thriller, The Accidental Wolf, and wrote The Courtroom, after the critically acclaimed Waterwell performances inside New York City courtrooms. Current creative film projects include Brother Love, This Country, 28 Mordad, The Great Fire of ‘33, a film adaptation of The Man in Red, and an autobiography about his family’s escape from Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Notable acting credits: A Doll’s House (Tony nomination, opposite Jessica Chastain), Broadway’s The Humans (Drama Desk Award), Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo (Tony nomination, opposite Robin Williams), Guards at the Taj (Obie Award), Succession (2 Emmy nominations), Love Life (NAACP nomination), Spiderman: No Way Home (Marvel), Inventing Anna (Netflix), You Hurt My Feelings (A24), Guy Ritchie’s Fountain of Youth (Apple), Nobody Wants This (Netflix), Wonder Man (Disney+) and the upcoming The Off-Weeks (Apple).
Surasree Das is an actress from Bangladesh. Previous credits include; 1st Stage: Lake Effect (Priya), Birthday Candles (Joan/Alex/Beth), Spooky Action: The Dragon (Elsa/Diya), Frontières Sans Frontières (Noon/Noble Laureate), Chesapeake Shakespeare: As You Like It (Celia), EStP: Diana of Dobson (Diana), Twelfth Night (Viola), The Merry Wives of Windsor (Mistress Quickly), Romeo and Juliet (Juliet), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Hermia), Olney Theatre (u/s, Arundhathi and Megha), Strand Theatre: Little Women (Jo March); Free Range Humans: Jekyll/Hyde (Nellie); Imagination Stage: The Very Hungry Caterpillar (u/s all, performed), The Princess and the Pauper (Zoya); BAPAC/The Tank NYC: TornKid (TornKid); Center Stage: Animal Farm; Single Carrot: King Lear (Goneril); Constellation: Arabian Nights (Dunyazade); Toby’s: South Pacific (Liat).
Awards: BITrsister Best Actor nomination (Jo March), Best Ensemble (Little Women), Best Devised (TornKid).
Education: Yale Summer Intensive
Instagram: drag0n_mistress
TikTok: Drag0nmistress
Raghad Makhlouf is an actress, teaching artist, and the associate director for The Art of Care Initiative at The Lab for Global Performance and Politics at Georgetown University. With a dynamic career that spans Syria, Lebanon, and Europe, she has an extensive repertoire of performances on stage and in television drama. She also served as a teaching assistant and assistant director at the Higher Institute of Drama in Syria.
In the US, she has performed at several prominent theater companies including Theater Alliance, Mosaic Theater, Spooky Action, Signature Theatre, Folger Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, The Welders and Shakespeare in The Woods. Raghad is a Helen Hayes Award nominee for Outstanding Supporting Performer, and two-time nominee for Outstanding Ensemble.
Education: The Higher Institute of Drama, Syria: B.F.A; Shakespeare Theater Academy at George Washington University: M.F.A in classical acting.
Insta@raghadmakhlouf
Arab American composer, vocalist, and oud player Laith Alattar performs a dynamic blend of traditional and contemporary Middle Eastern and world music across the U.S. and beyond. Raised in cosmopolitan Baghdad at the crossroads of the Silk Road, his sound reflects diverse influences spanning Arab, Turkish, Persian, Greek, North African, South Asian, and Andalusian traditions. He trained in Composition and Voice at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance under Michael Daugherty and Eric Santos, while studying oud and maqam with masters Karim Bader and Simon Shaheen. Inspired by Nadia Boulanger, Laith bridges folk nostalgia with classical boldness to create music that feels both timeless and new.
A passionate advocate for cultural exchange, Laith develops cross-cultural collaborations that highlight shared musical traditions. His projects include Arab-Indonesian fusion with the Sumunar Gamelan Ensemble and an Arab-Indian maqam–raga dialogue with Alif Laila and Anubrata Chatterjee at the DC South Asian Music Festival. In Washington, DC, he regularly partners with embassies and cultural institutions including the Greek Embassy, SHIN-DC, and Qatar America Institute for Culture, presenting programs such as Musical Conversation: Shared Melodies of Greece, Iraq & Sephardic Traditions and Cultural Crossings, fostering global music diplomacy and understanding.
Chorus
Cameren Evans is a DC based performer and is so excited to be back at Georgetown after graduating in 2024. Gaston was home to many of her favorite performances, and she credits her mentors and friends for making her fall in love with storytelling. Thank you to her friends and family for their constant love and support!
Originally from Algeria and France, Maya Lameche began performing in French-language theatre, appearing in classics such as Molière’s George Dandin or the Thwarted Husband before expanding to English-language productions including Death of a Salesman, Antigone, and Waiting for Godot. Her most recent credits include RECESS (Dir. Kate Mullis & Melissa Wilson) and Puffs (Dir. Ruth Sturm). Up next: Macbeth directed by Madeleine Regina.
Winnie Ho is a Georgetown Alumna and very excited to be returning on stage with The Use of Stories! Having majored in Theatre during her time at Georgetown, she is passionate about exploring the intersection of arts and politics. Winnie would like to thank The Lab and her mentors for guiding her through it all~
Karina Torres Márquez was born and raised in Puerto Rico. From a very young age, the performing arts always piqued her interest, prompting her to form part of many ads, plays, films, and dancing recitals. This last year, she took part in The Theatre Lab Honors Acting Conservatory Cohort 2025. Before that, she had portrayed the leading roles in the short films All Gifted and Cinderella’s Gift in the DMV area. Back on her home island, she formed part of the San Juan Drama Company, which gave her first supporting role in the film “Todo Por Amor.” Karina Torres Márquez is wholeheartedly passionate and dedicated to her craft, always seeking the thrill of living out different lives through each role she’s given.
Deema Turkomani (they/them) is a multi-faceted Saudi Arabian/Bahraini artist. Local credits include, Hedwig and the Angry Inch at Signature Theatre, Spring Awakening and American Psycho at Monumental Theatre. Staged-reading credits include: The Great Impresario Would like to Invite You to Dinner with Breaking the Binary X Woolly Mammoth, Limp Wrist on The Lever at Roundhouse Theatre. Film/TV: To’oborni (short, dir. Lara Bedewi) now available to stream on Watermelon+. Education: George Mason University, Theatre BFA, Muscial Theater. @deematurkomani
Creative Team
Dr. Derek Goldman is an award-winning international stage director, playwright, producer, adapter/deviser, curator, scholar, and convener working at the intersection of performance, civic dialogue, and global affairs. He is Professor of Theater and Performance Studies at Georgetown University, with a joint appointment in the School of Foreign Service as Professor of Global Performance and Culture. Over more than two decades at Georgetown, he has served as Chair of the Department of Performing Arts, Director of the Theater & Performance Studies Program, and Artistic Director of the Davis Performing Arts Center.
He has directed more than 100 productions and created over 30 original plays and adaptations, with work produced at leading Off-Broadway, regional, and international theaters including Steppenwolf, The Kennedy Center, Arena Stage, Ford’s Theatre, Lincoln Center, Theatre for a New Audience, Berkeley Rep, Baltimore Center Stage, Round House, Folger, Woolly Mammoth, Everyman, Mosaic, Theater J, Synetic, and many others.
Goldman is the director and co-author of the acclaimed play Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski, created by The Lab and starring Oscar-nominated actor David Strathairn. The production has been performed to wide acclaim Off-Broadway and at leading theaters and Festivals across the US, UK, Poland, Spain, and made into an the award-winning feature film (Remember This) broadcast nationally on PBS Great Performances.
He is the creator of In Your Shoes™, an innovative methodology that uses techniques of performance and deep listening to build trust, empathy and connection and to counter polarization. This work has engaged thousands of participants across sectors including medicine, public health, neuroscience, diplomacy, interfaith dialogue, education, and the arts. In 2024, The Lab and Mosaic Theater premiered The Art of Care, named by The Washington Post as one of the top productions of the year. Building on this work, Goldman and The Lab have launched The Art of Care Initiative, dedicated to advancing the idea that art and care are profoundly linked, and that this linkage can lead to more caring systems, better health outcomes, and a more just world.
Emma Jaster has directed movement at Shakespeare Theater Company, The Folger Theater, Center Stage, Round House Theater, Heartbeat Opera, Juilliard, and others regionally and internationally including work with Theater Zar, Poland; UTheater, Taiwan; and Natanakairali, India. She specializes in physical expression and communication as a performer, director, educator, and facilitator with a focus on the cross-cultural and humanizing potential of performance. She is Associate Director of The Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics at Georgetown and on faculty at The Shakespeare Theater Company’s Academy. Jaster is an Associate Artist of Heartbeat Opera in NYC, where she directed the critically acclaimed Lady M in 2023 and served as Movement Director for 9 productions including Dido & Aeneas, Butterfly, La Susanna, and Fidelio. She is currently directing Lysistrata for the new Glass Canon Theater Company in D.C.. The production opens at The Dance Loft in May.
Grace Carter currently works as the Company Manager / Creative Coordinator at Theater J, Production Management Assistant at Mosaic Theater Company as well as Assistant Producer at Solas Nua. Recent credits include – Assistant Director on Eureka Day (Theater J), Stage Manager on Distillation in DC and North American tours (Solas Nua), Assistant Producer of the Capital Irish Film Festival 2025 and 2026, ASM on The Art of Care (Mosaic Theater), ASM on Out of Character (Theater J / Mosaic Theater).
Grace is also an oil painter with work at www.gracevcarter.com.
Dorothy Barnes Driggers is a costume designer, technician, and educator. Currently the costume shop manager at Georgetown University, Dorothy teaches classes on sustainability and costume practicum. Some of her past design credits include Orlando, Hurricane Diane and Dog Act for Georgetown University, Snow day for Arts on the Horizon, Mary Poppins at Central Piedmont Summer Theatre and Madeline’s War at the Volks Theatre in Vienna, Austria. Dorothy has been featured by vogue.com for her bespoke wedding dress design and creation. Beyond her work in design and education, Dorothy has worked as a costume technician at The Washington National Opera,The University of Maryland, and The Santa Fe Opera.
The Use of Stories
Location: Gaston Hall
A World Premiere Staged Reading
Date: March 31, 2026 | 6:30 PM
What’s the use of stories that aren’t even true?