“In our day and age, not to understand how deeply finance has informed and defined our relationships is to miss an important part of what it means to be alive right now, in this civilization.” – Ayad Akhtar, playwright and 2013 Pulitzer Prize recipient!
VANCOUVER – Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Ayad Akhtar’s high-stakes thriller The Invisible Hand, which follows a kidnapped American trader in Pakistan playing the market for his life, makes its Vancouver debut on April 5 at The Cultch.
Directed by Richard Wolfe, this riveting, relevant play with a taut scenarios, unfold as the trader works to earn his release while unwittingly handing the tools for financial chaos and political vindication to his captors.
“Ayad Akhtar is a dazzling new voice in contemporary theatre and I’m very pleased to be directing the Canadian premiere of The Invisible Hand here in Vancouver,” says Pi Artistic Director Richard Wolfe. “It’s a terrific Pi show – a masterfully constructed play that’s smart, funny, incisive, and asks: how far will we go to save ourselves?”
Ayad Akhtar was born in New York City and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is the author of American Dervish, published in over twenty languages worldwide and a 2012 Best Book of the Year at Kirkus Reviews, Toronto’s Globe and Mail, Shelf-Awareness, and O (Oprah) Magazine. He is also a playwright and screenwriter. His stage play Disgraced played at New York’s LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater in 2012, and won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. His latest play, The Who & The What, premiered at La Jolla Playhouse in February 2014, and ran in New York at LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater from May to July 2014. As a screenwriter, he was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay for The War Within. He has been the recipient of fellowships from MacDowell and Yaddo, as well as commissions from Lincoln Center Theater and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. He is a graduate of Brown and Columbia Universities with degrees in Theater and Film Directing.
Starring: Craig Erickson, Shaker Paleja, Munish Sharma and Conor Wylie. Directed by Richard Wolfe. Costume Designer: Christine Reimer. Lighting Designer: Alan Brodie. Set Designer: David Roberts. Props Designer: Jennifer Stewart. Musical Director/Composer: Gordon Grdina. Production Manager: Jayson Mclean. Stage Manager: Jethelo E. Cabilete. Apprentice Stage Manager: Maria Zarrillo.
Photos by Tim Matheson
The Cultch Presents
The Invisible Hand
Pi Theatre (Vancouver)
Written by Ayad Akhtar
Directed by Richard Wolfe
WHEN: April 5 – 23, 2016
Apr 5, 8 PM: Preview
Apr 6, 8 PM: Opening
Apr 7 – 9, 12 – 16, 19 – 23: 8 PM
Apr 10, 17, 23: 2 PM
WHERE: Historic Theatre
1895 Venables Street, Vancouver
TICKETS: Tickets from $20! Single tickets on sale now through The Cultch’s Box Office:
604-251-1363 or tickets.thecultch.com.
