4380 Nights

by Annalisa Dias

At the end of President Barack Obama's second term, after he had campaigned on the promise of closing Guantanamo Bay Detention Center, of the 800 men who were detained there over the course of 14 years, 41 remained. In 2016, President Donald Trump promised to keep the facility open for the foreseeable future. Over the course of 12 years, or 4,380 nights, Malik Djamal Ahmad Essaid has been held without charge by...

At the end of President Barack Obama's second term, after he had campaigned on the promise of closing Guantanamo Bay Detention Center, of the 800 men who were detained there over the course of 14 years, 41 remained. In 2016, President Donald Trump promised to keep the facility open for the foreseeable future. Over the course of 12 years, or 4,380 nights, Malik Djamal Ahmad Essaid has been held without charge by the United States government at Guantanamo. As he languishes in his cell, his interactions with those on the outside interconnect with historical and mythical events in a riveting exposé of the legacy of global colonization and the continued violent coercion of black and brown bodies. 4380 NIGHTS asks how we might acknowledge our interconnected past and present and together build a future free from the walls.

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4380 Nights

Recommended by

  • Ellen Koivisto: 4380 Nights by Annalisa Dias
    “

    Gitmo meets Scheherazade in a way that seems impossible and completely logical, and you wonder about the stories we tell ourselves and the stories we tell about ourselves. Poetic realism at its finest for telling a bloody, disquieting story.

    Gitmo meets Scheherazade in a way that seems impossible and completely logical, and you wonder about the stories we tell ourselves and the stories we tell about ourselves. Poetic realism at its finest for telling a bloody, disquieting story.

    ”
  • Tara Moses: 4380 Nights by Annalisa Dias
    “

    4380 NIGHTS is raw, passionate, and most of all painstakingly real. The swiftness that Annalisa uses to bring audience members through time is smooth and brilliant, in that it beautifully captures the parallels between multiple presidential administrations and the inhuman treatment of those from the Middle East. However, the greatest achievement of this play is the robust relationships of the characters is never bogged down by the military politics and is centered throughout the story. This is a must read, but most of all a must produce.

    4380 NIGHTS is raw, passionate, and most of all painstakingly real. The swiftness that Annalisa uses to bring audience members through time is smooth and brilliant, in that it beautifully captures the parallels between multiple presidential administrations and the inhuman treatment of those from the Middle East. However, the greatest achievement of this play is the robust relationships of the characters is never bogged down by the military politics and is centered throughout the story. This is a must read, but most of all a must produce.

    ”

Character Information

  • Malik Djamal Ahmad Essaid / El Hadj El Kaim
    As Malik, an Algerian detainee at Guantanamo. As El Kaim, a Berber tribal leader serving as a guide for the French military during the 19th century French occupation of Algeria.
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      20s,
      30s,
      40s,
      50s,
      60s,
      70s+
    • Actor Race/Ethnic Identity
      Middle Eastern, North African, or Arab American,
      South Asian or South Asian American
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Male
  • Luke / Pelissier
    As Luke, a US army military interrogator at Guantanamo. As Pelissier, a 19th century French military commander on a campaign to quell tribal uprisings in the Algerian desert.
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      20s,
      30s,
      40s,
      50s,
      60s,
      70s+
    • Actor Race/Ethnic Identity
      White
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Male
  • Woman
    Storyteller, witness, agent of her own escape. Uses language (both verbal and
    embodied) to connect the past-present-future as form of resistance to forces that would seek to
    constrain both her and the world she inhabits.
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      20s,
      30s,
      40s,
      50s,
      60s,
      70s+
    • Actor Race/Ethnic Identity
      Indigenous, First Nation, or Native American,
      Middle Eastern, North African, or Arab American,
      South Asian or South Asian American
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Female,
      Non-binary
  • Man / Bud Abramson
    As Man, captor, emblem of colonial dynamic of ownership and control over bodies, language, and stories. As Bud, an American Jewish lawyer doing his best to help Malik in a unimaginably tangled system. He believes fiercely in the rule of law, his ideals, and the US justice system.
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      20s,
      30s,
      40s,
      50s,
      60s,
      70s+
    • Actor Race/Ethnic Identity
      White
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Male

Development History

  • Workshop, Signature Theater (DC), 2017

Production History

  • Professional, Signature Theater (DC), 2018