Austrian playwright Arad Dabiri is a rising voice in European theater. Here in DC, Dabiri’s poetic writing and sharp engagement with social issues drew the attention of ExPats Theatre Artistic Director Karin Rosnizeck, who translated his debut play Pressure! for its first English production. Dabi ri, originally a novelist, blends rhythmic, fast-paced dialogue with more poetic, reflective passages to explore questions of identity, belonging, and political tension in modern Vienna.  Pressure! follows a group of young people waiting for a court verdict and grappling with the potential imprisonment of a brother who never appears onstage. What unfolds is a portrait of collective anxiety, an examination of how different perspectives collide, how friendships strain under pressure, and how societal forces shape personal responses.  Karin Rosnizeck and Arad Dabiri In conversation with DCTA, director Karin Rosnizeck and playwright Arad Dabiri reflect on the play’s origins, its language, and the lived experiences that informed its emotional core. (This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.) Arad, can you start by telling us a little about the play? What’s the story? The play follows five young people waiting for a verdict that could send one of their own — a nameless brother who never appears onstage — to prison. It’s really about those who are left behind: his sister Shirin, his brother Hasan, and their friends. We watch how they think, argue, and react under pressure. The focus of the play isn’t the accused, but the people around him. Karin, what was it that attracted you to this play?  The language immediately spoke to me, the rhythm, the musicality. It has this driving, almost rap-like energy that pulled me in from the first scene and got my director juices flowing. What I found especially compelling is how the play holds multiple perspectives at once. It doesn’t judge; it allows for moral ambiguity. Because the brother never appears, the audience fills in the gaps themselves. I found that super intelligent. None of us knows exactly what happened so we can each form our own idea of who the brother is. It also speaks to political culture — the polarization we’re seeing, how protests can be hijacked, and how the moderate majority often disappears from view. It felt urgent and very now. Arad, is this the first time your work has been translated into English? What is it like to hear it in a different language?  It’s the first time a play I wrote has been translated into English. At first, I was a little nervous. It felt strange because English is not the language I wrote it in, but the rhythm and the meaning stayed the same. I read the play early on as Karin was still translating it. She was kind enough to ask me whether it sounded right. When I finally saw it performed, I realized it works well in English too. So now I’m excited for more English translations.   Karin, your theater, ExPats Theatre, specializes in European plays. How often do you do the translation yourself?  I only translate from English to German and I only translate the plays if there isn’t an existing translation. I really wanted to produce this play and I knew that asking the publisher to find a translator would take forever so I just asked the publisher if I could have the rights and I went for it.  What is ExPat’s goal in choosing scripts to produce in DC? Well, definitely international stories. We focus on contemporary international work, stories set elsewhere but relevant to American audiences. And I like plays by contemporary playwrights who deal with global issues that are set in another country but are relevant to the U.S. Burning issues, in a way.  The plays I choose mostly have a different aesthetic from many American plays because my goal is to add to the diversity of plays produced in DC. I’m drawn to plays with a distinct aesthetic, strong rhythm, and the courage to provoke discussion. I’m not interested in lecturing audiences — I want to challenge them. In the case of Pressure!, it’s set in Vienna, but it’s easy to see how the issues the characters face are similar to the issues we are experiencing here.  Arad, what cultural dynamics in Austria influenced this play? There’s a long-standing shift to the right in Austria. It’s been happening there for a long time, pretty much my entire life. In some ways, the country has been a model others now look to. Growing up in a family with roots in Iran, I’m aware of subtle but regular experiences of being told you don’t quite belong. It’s not always dramatic; it can be small, everyday moments, but those shape how you think and how you move through the world. Vienna is diverse and international, and I love it, but these tensions are still there, and they informed the play. Arad, do you consider the play autobiographical? Definitely not. My family is Iranian, so I know this culture because of them. I wouldn’t write the same story with a family whose parents are from Lebanon or Syria or wherever, because that’s not my place. So that’s why the family in Pressure! is Iranian. But it’s not autobiographical at all. I actually try to get away from the idea of connecting the writer to the text and just let the play speak for itself.  TOP: Ege Yalcinbas (Shirin) and Max Jackson (Freddie); ABOVE: Mac Jackson (Freddie), Ege Yalcinbas (Shirin), Alie Karambash (Hassan), Elijah Williams (Omar), and Sacha Marvin (Murat), in ‘Pressure!’ Photos by Teresa Castracane. Can you talk a little bit about the two siblings in this family and how they each deal with their brother’s arrest?  I like to say that the characters are all different voices in one head. You know, when you find yourself in a crisis, how do you respond? You might feel anger, doubt, the desire to assimilate, or the urge to fight back. You might feel that all at once. Each character represents one of those impulses. None of them is completely right or wrong. How does Hasan, the central character in the play, grapple with his brother’s arrest?  Yeah, Hasan is caught between what all the other characters are telling him he should do. He’s under pressure from all sides: his family, his friends, even his own fears.  His friends are pushing him to action, but his sister is reminding him that living in Austria makes so much more possible for them. Hasan’s private monologues reveal his true fears, and that’s when he’s the most honest. That tension between loyalty, identity, and belonging — that’s really the heart of the play.  Arad, a lot of the play’s action takes place on a park bench. What is the significance of that location? The park bench for me is a really important metaphor. On the one hand, it’s a really democratic place where anyone can sit, because it’s in a public park, but on the other hand, the people sitting there are often a little marginalized. For me, seeing the group of friends on the park bench, it’s about the feeling of being with people who understand you.  I had an experience not long ago when I wandered into a bar and ended up sitting with a bunch of guys who looked like me and shared the same background. I noticed that I immediately felt completely relaxed and safe, like I didn’t have to explain myself. That stayed with me, and that’s what the park bench represents in Pressure!, the bench is where those voices meet — where they argue, reflect, and try to make sense of things together.  Running Time: 90 minutes with no intermission. Pressure! plays through April 5, 2026, presented by ExPats Theatre performing at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, Lab II, 1333 H St NE, Washington, DC. Showtimes are 7:30 PM Fridays and Saturdays, with 2:30 PM matinees on Saturdays and Sundays. For tickets ($49, $44 for senior citizens), call the box office at (202) 399-7993, or purchase them online. Tickets are also available on TodayTix. Buy Tickets Discount Tickets SEE ALSO:ExPats Theatre’s riveting ‘Pressure!’ is a powerful punch in the stomach (review by Em Skow, March 17, 2026) ...read more read less