The Playwright of the Month for July 2026 is Nabila Qureshi (NL)!
Nabila Qureshi seeks out artistic approaches that excavate critical explorations of the self and the world, to deliver global stories that invite raw conversations around identity, politics, and culture. Binja (2026, directed by Santiago Guzmán for Shakespeare by the Sea Festival) marks her first collaboration with her husband Abdullah Omar Saif, who joins her as a co-playwright. The fable takes its characters and audiences on an incredible quest to find their true leader. The original play will have its world premiere in St. John’s in summer 2026.
Nabila’s theatre portfolio includes acting in, assistant directing, & co-writing NewfoundLanded (2024, directed by Santiago Guzmán for TODOS Productions & White Rooster Theater), a verbatim theatre play that explores the stories of immigrants, refugees, and newcomers making Newfoundland and Labrador their home. Nabila has dramaturged playwright Thiviya Kana’s In Search of Mangoes (2025, Women’s Work Festival), and has, since 2016, participated in several stage readings for the Women’s Work Festival & Persistence Theatre (St. John’s), and PARC (Atlantic). She acted in playwright Jenna Turk’s Remnants (2019, directed by Ruth Lawrence for White Rooster Theatre), a story informed by the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911 in Manhattan. Nabila occasionally works as a reporter and associate producer at the CBC bureau in St. John’s.
We asked some questions so our members could get to know Nabila a bit better.
What are some Plays that have stayed with you or influenced your work?
My first vivid experience of a play was Macbeth. It was part of my high school syllabus. My English teacher at Sir Robert Borden High School (Ottawa) presented the story in a very inviting manner, encouraging us students to deeply, and seriously, understand the complex nature of each character’s inward and outward emotions and circumstances, over an entire term. Lady Macbeth’s hands is an imagery that has forever been tattooed into my palace of knowledge. To this day, I see her and other characters from the play in our everyday political lives, and I realize that truly, Shakespeare’s literature is timeless. I’ve also thoroughly enjoyed and winced at August Strindberg’s Miss Julie (1888), & Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard (1904).
What are some questions you’re exploring or investigating in your work right now?
My husband and I are currently conceptualizing our next play. Broadly, it will explore how intentions are shaped by mind & body. More on that when we proceed to the writing stage!
Do you have any rituals or routines that fuel your creative process?
I don’t subscribe to any rituals, but I do love to have many cups of hot beverages and munchies while writing. I can have anything from hot chocolate, espresso pods and instant coffee from Mexico (the absolute best!), to Lady Grey, pomegranate, and sweet tulsi (holy basil) teas. Channeling the raccoon in me is essential to my creative process.
Tell us a bit about the role that PARC has played in your development as a writer and an artist.
PARC, to me, is like a league of wizards you summon when you really need some help with your (writing) spells. Santiago Guzmán, as Artistic Wizard, has provided incalculable support with dramaturgy for Binja at the 2025 Playwrights Retreat in New Brunswick. Not only did dramaturgy, over the course of a year, tighten the elasticity of the story, PARC offered me and co-playwright Abdullah Omar Saif a chance to run multiple simulations of the story with stage readers from every nook and cranny in Atlantic Canada. How much do I appreciate PARC? I’ll put it this way: renewing my annual membership is the only recurring payment I actually look forward to!