Founders
Jamil Khoury, Founding Artistic Director Email (312) 857-1234 x203
Jamil Khoury is Founding Artistic Director of Silk Road Theatre Project. Promoting playwrights of Silk Road backgrounds is a passion that dovetails well with Khoury’s experiences living in the Middle East and his eleven years as a cross-cultural trainer and international relocations consultant. His vocation as a playwright lends valuable currency to fulfilling SRTP’s mission as a playwright driven theatre. Khoury’s plays focus on Middle Eastern themes and questions of Diaspora. He is particularly interested in the intersections of culture, national identity, sexuality, and class. Khoury holds a M.A. degree in Religious Studies from The University of Chicago Divinity School and a B.S. degree in International Relations from Georgetown University 's School of Foreign Service. He is currently enrolled in the Non Profit Management Executive Scholars Program at the Kellogg School of Management (Northwestern University). Khoury has developed courses in Middle East Studies for The University of Chicago Graham School of General Studies and has lectured widely on Arab American affairs. In fall of 2009, Khoury conceived of and curated the highly successful Silk Road Cabaret: Broadway Sings the Silk Road. Khoury also conceived of, and is a featured playwright in, SRTP’s upcoming production of The DNA Trail: A Genealogy of Short Plays about Ancestry, Identity, and Utter Confusion (winter 2010). His DNA Trail short play is titled WASP: White Arab Slovak Pole. Khoury’s play Precious Stones won Gay Chicago Magazine's 2003 After Dark Award for Outstanding New Work and has been performed in ten cities across the U.S. His play Fitna was performed at University Theatre of The University of Chicago and his play Azizati was performed at Café Voltaire.
Malik Gillani, Founding Executive Director Email (312) 857-1234 x202
Malik Gillani is Founding Executive Director of Silk Road Theatre Project, a position to which he brings extensive experience in producing, management, and business development. He is thrilled to be advancing both the rich cultural legacy of the Silk Road and greater visibility for Silk Road artists. Gillani nurtured Silk Road Theatre Project from its embryonic stage into a celebrated theatre company, integrating business acumen and fiscal responsibility within an artistic mission. He conceived of and established SRTP’s arts integrated education program, Myths to Drama, which has been heralded as one of the finest elementary school arts education programs in the Chicago Public Schools system. Gillani earned a Bachelor's in Liberal Arts from St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland, with an emphasis on the Great Books. He is a Kellogg Executive Scholar (Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University) and has been awarded a Certificate of Professional Achievement in Nonprofit Management. Professionally, he has 15 years experience operating technology consulting firms where at various points in his career he was responsible for sales, marketing, negotiations, contract management, and human resources. Gillani is the recipient of the IBM Business and Technology Leadership Award and was honored by Changing Worlds for Outstanding Contributions to the Arts. Recently, he received the prestigious and highly selective Chicago Community Trust Fellowship Award. As a part of his CCT Fellowship, Gillani is receiving mentorship from the leaders of ethnically specific and multi-cultural theatre companies across the United States.