Works — Aya Nassif

Ep.
01–

01 · Podcast

For the Dreamers

Audio series · for the expats, the immigrants, the survivors

As an immigrant growing up in America since the age of five, Aya often wondered about others like her — the dreamers of America, each carrying their own story of immigration, resilience, and hope. Some will make you laugh. Others will make you cry.

This space gives room for immigrants to offer their own perspective on the diaspora — a place to lean in and truly listen.

“I made this for you, for the dreamers.”

Listen on Spotify →

Aya Nassif, performer of Cooking with a Small Arab Girl

Solo
Show

02 · Solo performance

Cooking with a Small Arab Girl

Written & performed by Aya Nassif · Directed by Ingrid De Sanctis

What began as a final project in a solo performance class at JMU has grown into a full-length piece about identity, childhood, and peanut butter. Aya cooks American cuisine with a Lebanese twist, randomly sings in French, engages the audience, and makes a bit of a mess.

On this week's cooking show, Aya is determined to recreate the peanut butter sandwiches that mesmerized her as a child. Along the way, she uncovers what it means to be a Lebanese American woman making sense of her past and present — told with humor, mess, and heart.

▶ Performance video — add file 📄 Full script — add file

Est.
Ongoing

03 · Multimedia project

In Between Here and the Sea

Written · Audio · Video · Photography · Theatre · Community

How do you continue to live beyond the tragedies and wars that mark your past? How do you let suffering change you without letting it destroy you?

This work is about survival — not survival as an event, but as a lifelong practice. Not just surviving war. Not just surviving immigration. Not just surviving grief. But surviving after.

Stories that live in the in-between — between leaving and staying, between hope and home, between here and the sea.

♫ Audio pieces (MP3) — add files