The Vagrant Trilogy

Originally to premiere Spring 2020, THE VAGRANT TRILOGY, written by Mona Mansour, delves into the Palestinian struggle for home and identity. In 1967, Adham, a Palestinian Wordsworth scholar, goes to London with his new wife to deliver a lecture. When war breaks out at home, he must decide in an instant what to do—a choice that will affect the rest of his life. The two parts that follow explore alternate realities based on that decision. Each part in the trilogy speaks to the others, together painting a rare and moving picture of Palestinian displacement and a refugee’s life of permanent impermanence. Mark Wing-Davey directs this sweeping new drama about the poetry and pain of losing the place called home.

At a crossroads, Adham and his wife must make the unthinkable decision: to take the path home, or to walk away and never return? Watch the tough decision unfold in The Vagrant Trilogy. Get The Vagrant Trilogy tickets in New York on TodayTix.

A Palestinian scholar, Adham, and his wife, Abir, left on a trip so that Adham could present a lecture in London. But, during their trip, they watched war unfold in their home country from afar, and quickly needed to make a decision. The Vagrant Trilogy play, told in three parts, initially explores the present reality for Adham and Abir leading up to that decision. Then, the following two parts serve as an alternate reality, depending upon which path they chose. Despite both roads having their differences, the storylines converge thematically under the overarching experience of being displaced and distraught by war and a refugee crisis.

Playwright Mona Mansour offers a raw and real representation of a family torn by war. The Vagrant Trilogy will have its New York City premiere off Broadway at the Public Theater. Previously, The Vagrant Trilogy was performed at the Mosaic Theater Company in Washington, D.C. as part of their Voices From a Changing Middle East Festival in 2018. Prior to this staging, the three parts were never staged together before.

Mark Wing-Davey directs six actors who play 19 roles across the story, spanning four decades and three generations.

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What to Watch For

• Playwright Mona Mansour is an alumna of The Public Theater’s Emerging Writers Group. While in the program in 2011, she presented Urge for Going, which would become the third part of The Vagrant Trilogy.
• Following a model reminiscent of Come From Away and The Laramie Project with six actors spanning 19 roles, keep an eye out for quick costume changes, and other swift switches.
• The Vagrant Trilogy originally began as one part (Urge for Going) and later expanded into its current three-part structure with parallel endings. Audiences can ask themselves throughout: Which path would you choose? And after watching all three parts, would you have taken the same path or another? With The Vagrant Trilogy’s exploration of possibility, there is an abundance of outcomes to consider that will really get you thinking!
• Multiple cast members have been with The Vagrant Trilogy for years. Two current cast members, Tala Ashe and Ramsey Faragallah, were in 2011 Urge for Going presentation, and all of the cast members scheduled to appear in the canceled 2020 production have returned for 2022.