Suzi Elnaggar is an Egyptian-American performance scholar, freelance dramaturg, and theatre-maker. She was a 2021 Kennedy Center Dramaturgy Intensive Fellow and works as both a developmental and production dramaturg. She is pursuing an Interdiscplinary Ph.D. in Theatre and Drama and MENA Studies at Northwestern University. She holds an M.A. in Theatre Studies from Baylor University, where she researched the work of Heather Raffo through the lens of trauma studies. She has been published in Asian Theatre Journal, Arab Stages, and Theatre Times. Her research interests include recontextualizing Greek tragedy, post-colonial theatre contexts, decoloniality in performance, theatre of social change, the intersection of trauma and performance, and work that centers around SWA/MENA (Southwest Asian/Middle Eastern and North African) experiences. Her scholarship and practice center community, collaboration, and context.

As a dramaturg, she is experienced in both production and developmental work. She is the founder of the Digital Development Project, which is currently in its inaugural Phase 1. This project funds emerging dramaturgs to pair with emerging playwrights to work one-on-one on their scripts in a digital space. She has worked one-on one with dozens of playwrights on their scripts, including Franky D. Gonzalez, Amy Tofte, John Minigan, Alyssa Haddad-Chin, Harley Elias, and more. She has been the production dramaturg for Clamour Theatre for the Clay and Water 2024 workshop of Lived Experience; TACTICS Ottawa’s workshop of ANANSI V. GOD(S); Jubilee Theatre Waco’s Fairview (Texas Premiere); Wild Imaginings’ Jesus and Valium (World Premiere), The Way He Looks at You, Cardboard Castles Hung on Walls (World Premiere); Baylor Theatre’s Wills and Secession, Dancing Lessons, Treasure Island (adapted by Bryony Lavery), and The Laramie Project. For Wild Imaginings, she helped select the plays, as well as curate audience guides and lead talkbacks for the Waco Contemporary Play Series, a grant-funded series of staged readings, including The Great Leap, The Thanksgiving Play, and Topdog/Underdog. She was the festival dramaturg/literary manager for Epiphanies New Works Festival for 2021 and 2022 before her move to Chicago.

Most recently, she has been the development and production dramaturg for The Great Sea Serpent, written by Tracy Davis and directed by David Catlin of Lookingglass Theatre, a new play in development at Northwestern’s Wirtz Theatre, premiering Spring 2024.

SWANA/MENA (South West Asain/Middle Eastern and North African) experiences; Contemporary Plays; Adaptations; New Works Dramaturgy; Theatre and Trauma; Decoloniality and Post-Colonial Contexts; Mythology and Retelling; Oral Storytelling and Nontraditional Narratives; Ancient Greek Theatre (including translating); Ancient Roman Theatre (including translation)

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