Are you Persian/Iranian?
 
Storytelling is a deep tradition within Iranian culture, and we believe everyone has their own to tell whether they realize it or not! On February 4, join writer-director Ora Yashar and The Braid artistic director Ronda Spinak to discover and bring your personal history to life through a unique writing workshop with Iranian young adults in L.A.
 
Learning to cook with your maman bozorg (grandmother), choosing a nontraditional career or life path, a beautiful holiday memory, an internal identity struggle—these are all potent experiences to explore and stories to keep alive. Ora and Ronda will walk us through this craft step by step, and encourage participants to submit their work to Persian Sunrise, American Sunset, a salon from The Braid featuring stories from the Persian community.
 
Thursday, February 4 at 6:00 pm
Zoom
 
Questions? Please reach out to Donna Maher!
 
Ora Yashar is a 2020 Film Independent Episodic Lab Fellow and a NEXT Fellow at The Braid. She has served as a story consultant for companies such as the Sundance Institute and Disney/ABC and was previously the showrunner’s assistant on the Netflix series “Atypical.” Currently, she is the writer development coordinator at Screencraft. She earned her MFA in directing from Chapman University, and loves being a storyteller because stories create community and community heals.
 
Ronda Spinak is the artistic director of The Braid, formerly Jewish Women’s Theatre. She created their At-Homes Salon theatre series and has since curated and produced more than 45 original Jewish-themed salon shows. She developed and produced “Not That Jewish,” which ran for 16 months, garnered an L.A. Drama Critics Circle nomination, and moved to off-Broadway. She also produced Rain Pryor’s hit show “Fried Chicken & Latkes” and Vicki Juditz’s “Sacred Resistance,” and co-wrote “Stories from the Fringe,” putting the stories of women rabbis on stage for the first time. She sits on the board of the Alliance for Jewish Theatres and is a member of the Dramatists Guild.
 
This workshop is a collaboration between NuRoots, the Nazarian Initiative, and The Braid. NuRoots, from L.A.’s Jewish Federation, helps young adults find and make community across Los Angeles. The Federation’s Nazarian Initiative highlights and celebrates Persian culture, heritage, and tradition, shaping a more inclusive and diverse future for L.A.’s Jewish community. The Braid, formerly Jewish Women’s Theatre, creates, curates, produces, and preserves stories grounded in Jewish culture and experience.