Storyteller, performer, cultural activist, and grassroots educator Kayhan Irani creates socially engaged art that uses the tools of participatory theater and popular education for critical analysis, healing and community building. Irani is a 2016 Obama White House Champion of Change, recognized for her art and storytelling work. Irani is also an Emmy Award winning writer. She won a New York Emmy award for writing We Are New York a 9-episode broadcast TV drama used as a civic engagement tool for immigrant New Yorkers. Her previous one-woman show, We've Come Undone toured nationally and internationally, telling stories of Arab, South Asian and Muslim-American women in the wake of 9/11. She has trained hundreds of groups in Theater of the Oppressed and participatory storytelling tools over the years, both nationally and overseas, in Afghanistan, India, and Iraq. Her newest one-woman show, There is a Portal is a continuation of Irani’s artistic work which centers immigrant stories to advance an inclusive American narrative and activate audiences.
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