Selina is a Chicago-based actress and playwright. She is a recent graduate of Northwestern University, where she studied playwriting under the instruction of Laura Schellhardt. Her original work includes The Armor Plays, Three Landings and a Fire Escape, and The Coho Salmon Pub & Grub. Selina was a two-time winning playwright in the university’s Agnes Nixon Festival. Three Landings and a Fire Escape was awarded the 2015 Judith Barlow Prize and received a reading in New York under the direction of Kathleen Chalfant. Selina is one of three Chicago playwrights currently writing for Sideshow Theatre’s Freshness Initiative: her play, Something Clean, will receive a staged reading this June.

Rohina Malik is a critically acclaimed Chicago playwright and solo performance artist. She was born and raised in London, England, and moved to Chicago when she was 15 years old.  Her one-woman play Unveiled was developed and had its world premiere at the 16th Street Theater, where it received critical acclaim. Rohina’s play The Mecca Tales was produced by Chicago Dramatists in 2015 and nominated for a Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Play. Her new play, Yasmina’s Necklace, had its world premiere at the 16th Street Theater in January 2016, directed by Ann Filmer, and was nominated for a Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Play.  She is a Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists, an Artistic Associate at the 16th Street Theater, and an Artistic Associate at Voyage Theater Company in NYC. Recently, Rohina became an Artistic affiliate at the American Blues theater in Chicago.  Her plays have been produced at the 16th Street Theater, Victory Gardens Theater, Crossroads Theater, Next Theater, Brava Theater, Voyage Theater Company, Silk Road Rising, Theater Project Baltimore and Mustard Seed Theater. Unveiled was presented in two South African Theater festivals: The Grahamstown Arts Festival and the 969 Festival in Johannesburg. Rohina is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild of America.

Omer is the Muslim Chaplain at Loyola University Chicago. He addresses theological, personal, social matters for students of all sectarian outlooks. During the school year, he also runs classes on Scripture, Student Life, and other matters. He has received Islamic studies training both through traditional and academic sources.  He has been an Adjunct Professor in the Departments of Theology and Modern Languages and Literatures. He has taught at the University of Chicago and DePaul University, among other schools.  He has taught courses on the Qur’an, the Sira, the Hadith, Islamic Law, Spirituality/Purification, Islamic revivalism, Islam and Politics, Sectarianism, al-Ghazali, Rumi, Iqbal, Arabic, Film, and Comparative religions. In 2011, he was granted an “Excellence in Teaching Award in Humanities, Arts, and Sciences” through the University of Chicago’s Graham School. For over two decades he has been giving sermons and leading classes at Islamic centers all across Chicagoland.