Raya Tuffaha

Raya Tuffaha is a Palestinian poet, playwright and librettist based in Seattle. Her 20-minute opera, THE MEETING HOUSE, was commissioned by the Seattle Opera Jane Lang Davis Creation Lab. Her debut poetry collection, TO ALL THE YELLOW FLOWERS (Golden Antelope Press, 2020), was presented the Swarthmore Intercultural Center Award for Artistic Activism and featured in Ms. Magazine. Two years later, she published her chapbook, APOCALYPSE BLUES (fmr. Plan B Press). Other publications include Mizna Online, Phoebe Journal, The Louisville Review, Asian American Writers' Workshop, and Button Poetry.

Raya is currently researching audience-performer power dynamics in staged violence. She's available for commissioned plays and libretti.

Outside of writing, she works as an actor, fight director, and...

Raya Tuffaha is a Palestinian poet, playwright and librettist based in Seattle. Her 20-minute opera, THE MEETING HOUSE, was commissioned by the Seattle Opera Jane Lang Davis Creation Lab. Her debut poetry collection, TO ALL THE YELLOW FLOWERS (Golden Antelope Press, 2020), was presented the Swarthmore Intercultural Center Award for Artistic Activism and featured in Ms. Magazine. Two years later, she published her chapbook, APOCALYPSE BLUES (fmr. Plan B Press). Other publications include Mizna Online, Phoebe Journal, The Louisville Review, Asian American Writers' Workshop, and Button Poetry.

Raya is currently researching audience-performer power dynamics in staged violence. She's available for commissioned plays and libretti.

Outside of writing, she works as an actor, fight director, and emerging intimacy coordinator.
BA Swarthmore College, British American Drama Academy. SAFD AAC.

@rayatuffaha

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Scripts

The Meeting House

by Raya Tuffaha

Cast Size
2
Genre
docudrama/historic,
drama,
horror,
opera,
political

[20 MIN OPERA] A woman's reckoning with her childhood self in Salem, Massachusetts.

"I was destined for Paradise
by my nature, yet I am left
longing for Egypt,
given a wilderness."

Fifteen years after the Salem Witch Trials, Temperance returns to the meeting house to grieve the loss of her childhood best friend. Upon entering, she's surprised to find her twelve-year-old self sitting in the pews, illuminated by...

[20 MIN OPERA] A woman's reckoning with her childhood self in Salem, Massachusetts.

"I was destined for Paradise
by my nature, yet I am left
longing for Egypt,
given a wilderness."

Fifteen years after the Salem Witch Trials, Temperance returns to the meeting house to grieve the loss of her childhood best friend. Upon entering, she's surprised to find her twelve-year-old self sitting in the pews, illuminated by moonlight. The confession begins.

This piece was commissioned by the Seattle Opera Jane Lang Davis Creation Lab.

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SUBJECT

by Raya Tuffaha

Cast Size
2
Genre
drama

[90 MIN] An anti-rom com studying Palestinian American identity, dehumanization, and power.

Tara's near Puget Sound for the first time since college, and someone with a familiar face remembered her name. That someone is Vic, who, despite being dead set on winning a local photography contest with his dad's old camera, has no clue where to begin. And they're both gonna be okay. Starting over is easier with a...

[90 MIN] An anti-rom com studying Palestinian American identity, dehumanization, and power.

Tara's near Puget Sound for the first time since college, and someone with a familiar face remembered her name. That someone is Vic, who, despite being dead set on winning a local photography contest with his dad's old camera, has no clue where to begin. And they're both gonna be okay. Starting over is easier with a partner who sees you. Right?

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Facing Creation

by Raya Tuffaha

3
Cast Size
3
Genre
fable/folktale,
movement/physical,
tragedy

[10 MIN] A stylized fable for physical actors.

The god of the ocean creates a lesson for a greedy fisher, and ends up learning something too. Inspired by surrealist Belgian painter Rene Magritte's "The Double Secret."

[10 MIN] A stylized fable for physical actors.

The god of the ocean creates a lesson for a greedy fisher, and ends up learning something too. Inspired by surrealist Belgian painter Rene Magritte's "The Double Secret."

The Free

by Raya Tuffaha

Cast Size
25—50
Genre
biography,
docudrama/historic,
drama,
opera,
political,
tragedy

[FULL LENGTH OPERA] A sweeping adventure that follows one woman’s attempt to outrun the past.

"Whatever storms lie brewing,
wrongs will right.
We begin tonight."

Young Sayyida al-Hurra swore revenge after the Spanish Inquisition exiled her family to Morocco. Now, decades later, she’s assembled a crew to cross the Mediterranean and take her country back. She must reach Seville and overthrow the king before her...

[FULL LENGTH OPERA] A sweeping adventure that follows one woman’s attempt to outrun the past.

"Whatever storms lie brewing,
wrongs will right.
We begin tonight."

Young Sayyida al-Hurra swore revenge after the Spanish Inquisition exiled her family to Morocco. Now, decades later, she’s assembled a crew to cross the Mediterranean and take her country back. She must reach Seville and overthrow the king before her brother can arrest her. If only she trusted her crew...

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Bella Bateekh in: Out of Mind

by Raya Tuffaha

Cast Size
1
Genre
dark comedy,
experimental,
immersive

[60 MIN] A dry direct-address mostly-solo show about refusing to perform.

A metatheatrical experience at the overlap of Degas' impressionism and Club Libby Lu (remember that?), this story follows Bella Bateekh, a touring actor/diva who was mistakenly booked to perform at [YOUR performance venue...uh oh]. Despite her best efforts to usurp the past, Bella must confront the physical, as well as larger...

[60 MIN] A dry direct-address mostly-solo show about refusing to perform.

A metatheatrical experience at the overlap of Degas' impressionism and Club Libby Lu (remember that?), this story follows Bella Bateekh, a touring actor/diva who was mistakenly booked to perform at [YOUR performance venue...uh oh]. Despite her best efforts to usurp the past, Bella must confront the physical, as well as larger, metaphorical theatres in which she was raised. "Hostile, hilarious, and dramatically brilliant," Bella Bateekh in: Out of Mind is a bold new reconciliation with the future and a compromise with the present.

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Shujar Gerasa

by Raya Tuffaha

Cast Size
6—15
Genre
drama,
fantasy,
political

[120 MIN] An epic play about gladiators and bodily autonomy.

Warrior hopeful Najat is determined to win Munira's hand—enough to steal from Tariq, the neighboring state's champion. Humiliated, Tariq challenges Najat to Shujar Gerasa: a ritual fight to the death in the amphitheatre. The governors of both states realize there's a lot riding on this fight. As Najat and Tariq prepare for the showdown, they must...

[120 MIN] An epic play about gladiators and bodily autonomy.

Warrior hopeful Najat is determined to win Munira's hand—enough to steal from Tariq, the neighboring state's champion. Humiliated, Tariq challenges Najat to Shujar Gerasa: a ritual fight to the death in the amphitheatre. The governors of both states realize there's a lot riding on this fight. As Najat and Tariq prepare for the showdown, they must reckon with the cost of victory.

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