This initiative was designed to encourage and support the development of Middle Eastern American playwrights and Middle Eastern American plays, of the highest artistic caliber, and to enrich the canon of American dramatic literature. A tri-coastal initiative between San Francisco's Golden Thread Productions, New York's Lark Play Development Center, and Chicago's Silk Road Rising, Middle East America created opportunities for American playwrights of Middle Eastern and North African backgrounds to challenge and expand representation of Middle Eastern peoples, and to better integrate their stories into the canon of American theatre. We aimed to challenge both the lack of representation and the one-dimensional, stereotypical representation of persons of Middle Eastern descent on America's stages.

Playwrights nominated for Middle East America were vetted in a highly-competitive application process, and the winner receives both a cash commission and extensive development support as they write a new play.

2008 Middle East America Distinguished Playwright Award

Winner: Adriana Sevan

Special Jury Prizes: Leila Buck and Sinan Unel.

2010 Middle East America Distinguished Playwright Award

Winner: Yussef El Guindi

Honorable mention: Nastaran Ahmadi, Denmo Ibrahim, Ken Kaissar, Mona Mansour, and Heather Raffo.

2014 Middle East America Distinguished Playwright Award

Winner: Mona Mansour

Honorable mention: Bianca Bagatourian, Ismail Khalidi, Daria Polatin, Mishael Shulman and Zohar Tirosh-Polk.