PROBLEMS BETWEEN SISTERS at studio theatre
World Premiere
Performances begin May 8, 2024
Written by Julia May Jonas
Directed by Sivan Battat
Two pregnant sisters—one visual artist, one con artist—converge on a remote family cabin in Vermont. Jess races to finish her long-awaited solo show; Rory sees a new audience for her latest scam. When Rory hatches a plan for an art project of her own, the problems between the sisters flare into a collision of family baggage, personal morality, and artistic taste. A response to True West, Sam Shephard’s surreal psychodrama about brothers with problems, Problems Between Sisters is a funny and savage take on domestication, creativity, and the elusive demands of the Primal Female.
This world premiere is a part of Julia May Jonas’s five-play ALTAS cycle (“All Long True American Stories”), in which she reimagines canonical 20th-century American male-experience plays as they’d be experienced by other people, mostly women.
WISH YOU WERE HERE at YALE REPERTORY THEATRE
OCTOBER 5 – OCTOBER 28, 2023
Written by Sanaz Toossi
Directed by Sivan Battat
It’s 1978 and protests are breaking out across Iran, encroaching on the suburb where a tight-knit circle of girlfriends plans weddings, trades dirty jokes, and tries to hang onto a sense of normalcy. But as the forces of revolution escalate, each woman must choose whether to join a wave of emigration or to remain in their country, where the future is uncertain. With breathtaking humanity and cutting wit, 2023 Pulitzer Prize winner Sanaz Toossi chronicles a decade of life during and after war, as best friends forever become friends long lost—scattered and searching for home.
BACKSTROKE BOYS at FAULT LINE THEATRE
October 27 - November 4, 2023
Paradise Factory
Written by Xavier Clark
Directed by Sivan Battat
On his first day of swim practice at a brand new high school, and country, Quentin befriends Zia, the captain of the swim team, and through their growing relationship they open up a whole can of worms. A coming of age story that grapples with the question of how can you hold on to your faith when your faith is showing grace and acceptance towards everything else but your own self?
THE WORKSHOP: JOCSM Arts Fellowship
The Workshop is North America’s first arts fellowship centering the work of JOCISM (Jews of Color, Jewish-Indigenous, Sephardi & Mizrahi) artists & culture-makers.
Conceived and founded by theatre-artist and rabbi, Kendell Pinkney, The Workshop seeks to stir-up, interrogate, incubate, expand, trouble and revitalize Jewish art by providing unparalleled career support for wildly talented artists.
Sivan is a part of the 2023 Fellows Cohort.
Layalina at the Goodman Theatre, Press
HEROES OF THE FOURTH TURNING at STUDIO THEATRE
Sivan to direct the DC premiere of Heroes of the Fourth Turning by Will Arbery at Studio Theatre in Washington DC.
On the edge of the Wyoming wilderness, the last guests linger late into the night at a celebration for the new President of their conservative Catholic college. Reunited after seven years, the friends toss back whiskey and name-check Thomas Aquinas, Hannah Arendt, Steve Bannon, even Bojack Horseman, tracking their distance from each other and the people they thought they’d be by now. Will Arbery’s portrait of conservatives trying to make sense of where they—and their country—stand is an incisive yet personal look at the intelligence and despair of the Catholic right.
September 21 - October 23, 2022 in Studio’s Mead Theatre
Layalina at the Goodman
Sivan to direct the world premiere of Layalina by Martin Yousif Zebari at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago.
A surprising new play about how families fall apart—and find each other again—amidst turbulent global and social change.
In 2003, newly-wed Layal and her family prepare to immigrate from Baghdad, Iraq, to a Chicago suburb. Seventeen years later, Layal’s life looks unimaginably different from what she had envisioned two decades prior, as she and her siblings explore queerness, face their grief, and discover what it takes to make home in a new place. Don’t miss this moving, powerful new play’s world premiere on the Owen Stage—fresh from Goodman’s New Stages and Future Labs programs.
March 3 - April 2, 2023 in Goodman's Owen Theatre
NEW GEORGES AUDREY RESIDENCY
Playwright MJ Kaufman (a two-time resident!) and director Sivan Battat will develop a new play about MJ’s grandfather’s 1948 migration from Palestine to Germany, seeking to discover a theatrical language for an ensemble-based play that spans 50 years, three continents, and three generations.
TCG Announces Sixth Round of Rising Leaders of Color
Sivan Battat is part of the sixth cohort of TCG’s Rising Leaders of Color.
This year’s cohort, who are based in New York City, will include Zi Alikhan, Sivan Battat, Adam Coy, Rebecca Martinez, Liz Morgan, Rudy Ramirez, Danica Rodriguez, and Gaven Trinidad.
“We are thrilled to launch the sixth round of the Rising Leaders of Color program.” said Emilya Cachapero, director of artistic & international programs. “More than ever, as this country wrestles with its legacy of racism and inaction, it is essential to uplift and support BIPOC leaders who have exhibited their commitment to creating a more just society. The 44 alumni of the program have already made impactful contributions to the theatre field and their communities. We look forward to identifying a new cohort who will undoubtedly be at the forefront of shaping our theatre field’s future, especially as our field begins to plan for reopening.”
DRAMA LEAGUE FELLOWSHIP
Sivan is the 2021-2022 Leo Shull Musical Directing Fellow with the Drama League. Through the fellowship, they will be working with New York Stage & Film and directing a musical as part of DirectorFest in Winter 2022.
Tune in for a reading of Close to home
Sivan is a directing a digital reading of Close to Home by Sharifa Yasmin on Sunday, April 24 at 3PM ET with Uprising Theatre Company.
A young Southern man’s life is disrupted when he stumbles upon a homeless trans girl who has taken a liking to the 200-year-old oak that sits on his property. Zara’s strict Islamic family has disowned her, leaving her with nowhere else to go, so Colt reluctantly takes her in. But with no clue how to take care of himself, let alone a teenager, Colt gains the help of a quiet Muslim man named Kaysar. All three are on very different journeys; Kaysar is searching for family, Zara is searching for home, and Colt is searching for some damn peace and quiet. Together, they find that what they’re really looking for might just lie beneath the branches of an old oak tree.
layalina at the criminal queerness festival
Sivan will be directing Layalina, by Martin Yousif Zebari, in an outdoor, socially distanced staged reading with the National Queer Theatre for the 2021 Criminal Queerness Festival.
In 2003, newlywed Layal plans a future with her family as they make plans to immigrate to the U.S. from Baghdad. 18 years later, just outside of Chicago, Layal’s life and responsibilities look unimaginably different from what she had envisioned two decades before. Martin Yousif Zebari’s surprising new play examines how families maintain their love in the midst of turbulent global and social change.
Tune in for a digital reading of his majesty, herself
Sivan is a directing a digital reading of a new Theatre for Young Audiences commission by May Treuhaft-Ali on Sunday, March 21 at 2PM ET with Adventure Theatre MTC.
Roundabout Announces Sivan as Directing Fellow
Sivan will be the Roundabout Theatre Company Directing Fellow for the 2021-2022 Season. The Roundabout Directing Fellowship was launched in 2017 to create a long-term, meaningful relationship between Roundabout and a young director. Battat is the fifth in the program, following Whitney White (2017), Miranda Haymon (2018), Kathleen Capdesuñer (2019), Cristina Angeles (2020). Battat will begin in 2021 once production has resumed and she will serve as an assistant director on multiple productions, starting with Trouble in Mind.
LABA Fellow with the 14th St. Y
Sivan is a 2021-2022 LABA Fellow with the 14th St. Y. LABA is a Jewish Arts Fellowship and Sivan will be developing a new project to premiere through the Fellowship, along with steady Jewish text study with a cohort of artists. This year’s theme is CHOSEN.
sivan assists on capsule
Sivan assisted on Capsule by Whitney White & Peter Mark Kendall, directed by Taibi Magar & Tyler Dobrosky, premiering at The Public’s Under the Radar Festival this winter.
Inspired by the past year, Capsule is a kaleidoscopic reflection on isolation and longing, about breaking apart and breaking free and the impossible nature of connection.
Who the Fuck is Ahmed at Laguardia performing arts: beyond the mask, Mena Festival
Sivan is directing a staged digital reading ofWho the Fuck is Ahmed by Michael Zalta for Laguardia Performing Arts Rough Draft Festival. This year’s festival is a MENA Festival entitled Beyond the Mask.
She he Me at the criminal queerness festival
Sivan is directing a digital performance of She He Me by Raphael Khouri at the Criminal Queerness Festival with the National Queer Theatre. Originally slated for performance at Dixon Place, this production will take place on Zoom and be streamed digitally for three days following premiere.
Sivan will also be moderating a creative conversation panel on queer transnational activism in the Middle East.