SYNOPSIS

Set against the dawn of the Somali Civil War in Mogadishu, the night is April 12, 1991, the 27th day of Ramadan (known as the "Night of Power/Destiny). Leyla has returned home to rescue her youngest sister, Sagal, who fled the rest of the family in search of their eldest brother, Assad. On this night, they must all flee the city to safety before daylight and the return of the traitors who are fighting to overtake the city.

Awarded 2014 Directors Choice Award, Boston Metro Opera

SAMIYA BASHIR holds a BA from the University of California, Berkeley, where she served as Poet Laureate, and an MFA from the University of Michigan, where she received two Hopwood Poetry Awards. She is currently the Joseph Brodsky Rome Prize Winner in Literature, Bashir is currently in residence at the American Academy in Rome through 2020. In October 2017 she was awarded the Regional Arts & Culture Council’s Individual Artist Fellowship in Literature in recognition of individual artistic achievement and excellence to sustain and enhance her creative process. She has been the recipient of numerous other awards, grants, fellowships, and residencies, and is a founding organizer of Fire & Ink, an advocacy organization and writer’s festival for LGBT writers of African descent.