Pictured: Lee Stark and Dorian Makhloghi star in "Disgraced." Photo by: John Revisky.

Asolo Repertory Theatre closes out the fourth year of its five-year American Character project with a production of the Tony-nominated and Pulitzer Prize-winning Disgraced, opening this Friday. A dramatic but at times humorous conversational exploration of faith, humanity and dignity through the lens of the Muslim-American experience post-9/11, the play rose quickly from its 2014 premiere on Broadway to become the most produced play in the country this season. “It has landed as a cultural document because of what we’re going through,” said Asolo Producing Artistic Director Michael Donald Edwards, who will also direct. “Disgraced is going to reverberate in a really potent way.”

Written by Ayad Akhtar, Disgraced enters the world of Amir Kapoor, a Muslim-American Manhattan attorney who abandoned his faith after the 9/11 attacks, only to be called to defend a local imam with whom he disagrees. When the matter arises at Kapoor’s dinner party, he and his friends, each with their own religious and racial perspectives, must have a frank talk about their differing notions of faith, dignity and humanity. “It turns out,” said Edwards, “they have the conversation we’re all afraid to have.”

Though long in planning, the production feels “even more timely” now, according to Edwards, and serves as a possible counterpoint to the “toxic” rhetoric heard today from politicians and campaigns. “When you hear all this inflammatory rhetoric about Muslim communities, you’re talking about Americans,” said Edwards. “But [Disgraced] forces us to think about what’s going on in a way that’s not about the headlines—to provoke thought and stimulate profound feelings.” The conversation is “raw,” he said, but with enough humor to make repeat viewings a pleasure as the audience teases out what they may have missed the first time around, as the play offers no “easy answers.”

Though produced in great numbers this season across the country, Edwards promises something a little different with the Asolo production. Whereas previous productions have opted for realism in their sets, presenting a believable Upper West Side Manhattan apartment as the stage, he has opted for something a little more interpretive. “I’ve really focused on it as a play of ideas and a play profoundly informed by the idea of art,” he says, and through unconventional presentation hopes to “tease out the ideas about art and living” he sees as integral to the power of the story.

Starring Dorien Makhloghi as Kapoor and with Lee Stark returning to the role she originated as Kapoor’s wife, Emily, Disgraced opens Apr. 1 and runs through Apr. 24. Discussions with the artists and the audience will precede and follow each performance.

Pictured: Lee Stark and Dorian Makhloghi star in "Disgraced." Photo by: John Revisky.