GREGORY JAFARI
VAN ACKER
(THEY/HE)
PLAYWRIGHT | LYRICIST | CASTING DIRECTOR
Normalizing positive representation for historically excluded voices
BIO
GREGORY JAFARI VAN ACKER (They / He) is NY based casting director, author, educator, and playwright/lyricist who loves making connections and bringing people together, especially in the company of team members from Bass/Valle Casting and The Casting Collaborative!
PLAYWRIGHT/LYRICIST: The Newest Newcomer (Sundog Theatre, touring 2025), The Price of Saffron (EMU), NOPLACE (Goodspeed Musicals/Johnny Mercer Grove selection, Eugene O’Neill National Music Theatre Conference semifinalist), Sugar Skull (Rhythm of the Arts, national tour), Thurgood Grows Up (Sugar Hill Museum of Art and Storytelling), The Book of You (Durango Arts Center), The Joining Place (avail on Bandcamp).
CASTING DIRECTOR: Kimia Zaman and the Whispers of the Mountains (dir. Shadi Ghaheri, Kennedy Center), Safe (dir. Jess McLeod, NYCLU/BAM), Como Correr (dir. Nico Raimont, Peak Performances), The Queen's Ball: A Bridgerton Experience (Netflix/Shondaland), Bite-Sized Broadway (Indieworks), Kisses and Bullets (dir. Faranak Sahafian), The Deciders (dir. Jess McLeod, Woolly Mammoth), Shoot For The Moon (dir. Raja Feather Kelly, MTF), The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (BFRJ Sings @ Little Island).
CASTING ASSOCIATE: English (dir. Shadi Ghaheri, Alliance Theatre), Sunset Blvd (ACT of CT), House of Telescopes (world premiere, Pipeline Theatre Company), Stranger Sings: The Parody Musical (Playhouse 46 @ St. Luke's), The Great Gatsby (Immersive Everywhere), Journey! (dir. John Rando), and others.
Recipient of the Dr. Kenny Hasija Encouragement Fund for Theatremakers Grant (presented by Ken Davenport). Van Acker and writing partner Joel Esher are recipients of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council/New York City Department of Cultural Affairs/Howard Gilman Foundation Creative Engagement Grant.
Available for freelance script doctoring, audition technique workshops, and can be found telling tales from Greece and the Middle East at NYC museums, attending SWANA roundtables, seeing new shows from new voices at all stages of development, or writing new musicals and TV series pitches with favorite collaborators such as Joel Esher and Scott Lilly. Van Acker is queer, gender-fluid, MENA, BROWN, and deeply committed to increasing positive representation for historically excluded voices.
PLAYWRIGHT / LYRICIST
THE PRICE OF SAFFRON
14-year-old Dastan Bahram just wants to be strong and fast. His father - who also happens to be his coach - just wants him to be ready for battle in the real world. Can an adventurous princess, a mechanical flying horse, and a precious Persian spice make Dastan into enough of a hero to save his father's gym from certain doom?
THE PRICE OF SAFFRON is a humorous, high-fantasy play for family audiences about guidance through stories, fathers and sons, generational differences, and the heroic strength that comes form knowing yourself.
Currently available for licensing.
KISMET RECLAIMED
A contemporary Persian writer passes a poster of a white Broadway star painted up in "Middle Eastern" drag, as family audiences flock to see this monstrosity 8 times a week. Join Amir as he follows the spirit of fate into an exotic dream world that challenges his own deeply rooted connection to orientalism, brownness, and all the many ways we see ourselves. Yes, she's a comedy!
Currently available for development.
THE JOINING PLACE
The Joining Place is a seemingly endless hall of doors (and keys!) at the very center of time and space. Vast and impressive as it may be, it’s nothing more than a celestial storage space. But to two lonely children from very different worlds, it’s so much more...
THE SOARING IMAGINATION OF LENNY LEGATO
Meet Lenox ("Lenny") Legato (they/them)!
A highly imaginative 6-year-old from Harlem, NY, Lenny is an only child with a large vocabulary and dramatic flair!
Lenny loves to daydream about the daily events on their day camp calendar. Lenny's musical imagination allows them to dream up anything from stunning synchronized swimming songs to glorious goat parades! But reality is rarely like in Lenny's imagination...
Series pitch deck available upon request.
UNTITLED GEEK POC FANTASY ADVENTURE SAGA!
Brilliant, brown geek podcast hosts Dastan and Jai are invited to an abandoned mansion to finish a famous, unfinished white savior chosen one fantasy book series (B.J. Tremolo's Bryce Price Saga). When Dastan and Jai decide to crucify the white savior character, they send the saga spinning! Untitled Geek POC Fantasy Adventure Saga! is a fast-paced, big-hearted love letter to the fantasy genre that ALSO loudly demands “How do you salvage the thing you love when the thing you love is problematic?” UGPOCFAS! invites audiences to venture into a sword-and-sorcery dreamscape with a variegated crew of fantasy mavens to discover what can happen when typically white narratives are dismantled, reinvented, and perhaps ultimately thrown out by persons of color.
NOPLACE
A makeshift family recounts the steps that brought them together, while weighing the value of potentially breaking apart in order to redefine the concept of utopia. Eugene O'Neill semi-finalist. Selected for development at Goodspeed Opera House with the 2020 Johnny Mercer Foundation.
THE BOOK OF YOU
A dusty old library hardly seems like the spot for an exciting end-of-summer adventure, but when young Fae Weaver is given the task of seeking a lost book, she finds herself on a magical journey of self-discovery. Mysterious librarians and favorite literary characters act as guides in this whimsical, original story inspired by classic and contemporary books, as Fae learns what it means to live up to her name, and become a true fable weaver! *The playwright strongly (and lovingly) encourages the use of non-traditional casting for all characters.
Currently available for licensing. Script available upon request.
SUGAR SKULL: A DÍA DE MUERTOS MUSICAL ADVENTURE
Meet Sugar Skull, a charismatic candy skeleton determined to help a 12-year-old girl get closer than ever before to her family's rich traditions. Sugar Skull! is a colorful, musical family adventure that celebrates the beauty of Día de Muertos, and the vibrant heart of Mexican culture. For booking inquiries: https://www.rhythmofthearts.com/artists-projects
SUGAR SKULL: A VIRTUAL DÍA DE MUERTOS ADVENTURE
An educational, virtual adventure with Sugar Skull created especially for distance learning elementary and preK students. This virtual offering is rich in music, color, and joy, as an inquisitive candy skeleton ventures into homes around the world to discover the true meaning of Día de Muertos. Includes individual educational modules such a makeup design, musical instrument lessons, and engaging craft projects from the Mexico Beyond Mariachi company. https://www.rhythmofthearts.com/artists-projects
FOREST FABLES
Join storyteller Gregory and cat Izzy in the blanket fort, which has the power to transport anybody to the Fable Forest...where stories come to life! Originally created as an engaging way to keep an international school community united during the uncertain early weeks of lockdown, Gregory has presented over 50 Forest Fables for virtual audiences in the U.S.,Toronto, Moscow, Kiev, and more. Forest Fables Live is available for bookings at NYC museums, libraries, and schools.
THE NEWEST NEWCOMER
Five students in a newcomer classroom find themselves questioning the meaning of America. Commissioned by Sundog Theatre, touring in 2025.
TALES FROM GREECE AND THE "MIDDLE EAST"
Live, interactive, musical performances focusing on ancient folktales. Can be seen weekends at Sugar Hill Museum of Art and Storytelling, or booked for school and library performances. Offered stories include The Tale of the Wonderhorse, Julnar the Seaborn, The Saga of the Third Son, Perseus and Zeus, and many others. Please inquire for rates and available cast sizes.
WRITING W/ JOEL ESHER
Musicals / TV Pitches / TYA Projects
We've been writing musical projects together for as long as we've been friends. We love to explore what lies beyond the first stages of acceptance and understanding of ones’ identity. Our intention is to always go many steps beyond the usual “I love who I am” moment that so many stories end on. We like to ask what happens after you love yourself? Where can that confidence and self acceptance take you next?
We're lucky to have found creative partners who take natural joy in their roles in the collaboration. We have developed a reputation for completing our work very quickly, driven largely by a passion for the creation of new ideas.
EDUCATOR, THEATRE TEACHER, PERFORMING ARTS DIRECTOR, TYA
I love developing theatre for young audiences from the ground up. I begin by getting to know the children (ages 4-12) through theatre games and storytelling activities. I then guide them through the process of developing an original theatrical experience build entirely from their own work and interests, from playwriting, production design and construction, performing, and even striking the set. I pull from the teachings of Augusto Boal, Paulo Freire.
Also available for audition technique workshops for for large or small university groups.