The event, through Sunday, showcases the works of six playwrights. A symposia, "Power, the Press and Plays," led by playwrights Bernard Weinraub and Tony Award winner Terrence McNally, will begin at 7:30 tonight.

All performances and the symposium will take place in the Zalk Theater at Besant Hill School, 8585 Ojai-Santa Paula Road, Ojai. Tickets cost $30 per play or symposium. Call 640-0400 or visit http://www.ojaiplays.org.

LANGUAGE ROOMS: By Yussef El Guindi
Saturday, August 9th, 4:00 p.m.

A dark comedy situated in one of those so-called “black sites” run by the CIA for the interrogation of prisoners. It revolves around two Arab-American translators/interrogators, one of whose "sympathies", “loyalties”, begins to be questioned as the play progresses. Could he be spying/working for someone else? The play confronts issues of fitting in, belonging, American identity, and immigration.

Bio:

Most recent productions: OUR ENEMIES: LIVELY SCENES OF LOVE AND COMBAT produced by Silk Road Theatre Project; JIHAD JONES AND THE KALASHNIKOV BABES produced by Golden Thread Productions. Other productions: BACK OF THE THROAT winner of the 2004 Northwest Playwrights’ Competition, L.A. Weekly’s Excellence in Playwriting. TEN ACROBATS IN AN AMAZING LEAP OF FAITH, staged by Silk Road Theatre Project, the After Dark Award for Best New Play in Chicago. Yussef holds an MFA from Carnegie-Mellon University and was playwright-in-residence at Duke University.