Brookfield native Ayad Akhtar’s drama “Disgraced” has been nominated for a Tony Award as best play, it was announced Tuesday. The awards salute excellence in Broadway theater.
It was its only nomination.
In 2013 Akhtar won the Pulitzer Prize for “Disgraced.” The play is about an assimilated Pakistani-American corporate lawyer who thinks he has distanced himself from his roots until he and his wife, a white artist influenced by Islamic imagery, host a dinner party where religious and cultural tensions explode.
It currently stars Josh Radnor, Gretchen Mol, Karen Pittman, and Hari Dhillon. It will compete for best play with “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time,” “Hand to God,” and “Wolf Hall.”
for a complete list of nominees.
Akhtar, who is Pakistani-American, is author of “American Dervish,” a novel about a Muslim youth growing up in a Milwaukee suburb and grappling with issues of faith and identity, and which reflected his experiences growing up here. Akhtar is a graduate of Brookfield Central, and the son of two Elm Grove doctors: cardiologist father Rashi, and retired radiologist mother Masood.
Akhtar also wrote, co-directed and starred in the 2005 film “The War Within,” about a terrorist who involves a Pakistani-American family in his plot. “Disgraced” premiered in January of 2012 at Chicago’s American Theatre Company. In his last appearance as an actor he appeared in HBO’s “Too Big To Fail.”
The Milwaukee Repertory Theater will perform Akhtar’s “The Invisible Hand,” about terrorism and finance, during the 2015-16 season.
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