Think you know the Middle East? Think again!  Running now through December 10, the ReOrient 2017 Festival of Short Plays features an LMDA partnership for the first time with San Francisco-based theatre company Golden Thread Productions. (For tickets and info, please visit goldenthread.org). This alliance brings together two organizations that value challenging cultural preconceptions through provocative programming and dialogue. Curated by LMDA’s Regional VP of Metro Bay Area Nakissa Etemad, LMDA has provided a team of production dramaturgs to collaborate on the plays in script development and research, and publications dramaturgs to write feature articles that take you behind-the-scenes of ReOrient, posted on websites and in mailings of both organizations. Check back here to read the first of four articles, and visit the Metro Bay Area page for more. PHOTO: Theatre Artists at ReOrient 2017 Camp, the workshop weekend held at USF in July. Photo by Haleh Hatami.