Omer Abbas Salem
Omer Abbas Salem (he/they) is an actor and playwright. As an actor, they've worked at Roundabout Theatre, Atlantic Theatre, St. Louis Repertory Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, The Goodman Theatre, Steep Theatre, Jackalope Theatre, Silk Road Rising, First Floor Theatre, The New Coordinates, About Face Theatre, Griffin Theatre, and The Second City. As a playwright, their work has been produced at The Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, About Face Theatre, Steep, First Floor Theatre, Jackalope Theatre, The New Coordinates, The Story Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, National Queer Theatre, Definition Theatre, and The Theatre School of DePaul. They are a member of the 2021/22 Goodman Playwrights Unit and had a play developed in The Goodman’s New Stages Festival in 2022.
They are the winner of the 2022 Blueprint Commission winner from First Floor recipient of the 2021 Cunningham Commission from DePaul University. They were given an Emerging Playwright Commission from Audible Theater and are also the most recent recipient of the Edgerton Commission at Steppenwolf Theatre. They also won the 2022 3Arts Award in Theater.
They are an ensemble member of Steep Theatre, First Floor Theater, and The New Coordinates. They graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign and the University of Chicago. They are represented by Gray Talent and the Gersh Agency.
Profile caption: Joel Maisonet
Featured Artworks
The Secretaries: A Parable (2020)
Written by Omer Abbas Salem, Directed by Laura Alcala Baker. Photos by Anna Gelman. Actors: LaKecia Harris, Sarah Price, Emilie Modaff, and Tina Munoz Pandya.
First Floor Theatre
Ahab and the Vegetable Garden
Actors Theater of Louisville
You Across from Me
Actors Theater of Louisville
Eddie and Dave
The Atlantic Theater
Light Falls
Steep Theater
Pinocchio
The House Theater
Photo by Michael Brosilow