Media
Nadia P Manzoor is a British Pakistani actor, writer, and producer, whose autobiographical one-woman show, Burq Off! has had sold-out runs in New York, LA, San Francisco, London and Toronto. It has been called a «Gutsy, honest, hilarious must-see!» by Deepak Chopra, and «Terrific» by The Economist. She is the co-creator and performer of Shugs & Fats, a Gotham Award winning web series and has recently been named one of the twenty-five new faces of independent film by Filmmaker Magazine.
Incisive and outspoken, Nadia’s has appeared on CNN, The BBC, NPR, and Radio Q and has been featured in Elle India, Vogue India, The Daily Beast, and The Times of India. She recently delivered a TedX talk on creative collaboration, and is a frequent guest speaker on panels that focus on women in Islam and the Muslim identity. Her writing has appeared on the Huffington Post, India.com, and Brown Girl Magazine. Manzoor’s interests lie in challenging the status quo through laughter. To further fuse her passion for performance and social justice, she founded Paprika Productions, an all-female production company that produces works by brave, curious women.
Gallery
PHOTO CREDIT: ADAM REICHARDT
PHOTO CREDIT: JOHN KEON
PHOTO CREDIT: EMILIO MADRID-KUSER
PHOTO CREDIT: LESLIE VAN STELTEN
PHOTO CREDIT: KATARINA KOJIC
DESIGN: Michelle D'Avella
INTERVIEWS & FEATURES
Vancouver Presents
Monsoon Festival Puts The Spotlight On South Asian Performing Arts
by Mark Robins
Vancouver Sun
Nadia Manzoor Defines Herself In Burq Off!
by Stuart Derdeyn
Beatroute
Monsoon Festival of Performing Arts Brings Local, International South Asian Talent Centre Stage
by Noor Khwaja
The Georgia Straight
Burq Off! Finds Hilarity In Tension Between Tradition And Freedom
by Janet Smith
Vancouver Sun
Monsoon Festival of Performing Arts: 5 Points of Interest
by Stuart Derdeyn
CNN Connect the World
Interview with Becky Anderson
Al Jazeera
The Stream Panel Discussion with Zarqa Nawaz and Zahra Noorbakhsh
Buzzfeed
On Modesty and Fashion
Q Radio
interview with Talia Schlanger
BBC Asian Network Radio
with Nihal
London Live UK channel 117
interview with Luke Blackall
CNN International
with Christiane Amanpour
BBC UK URDU channel
interview in urdu
BBC radio 4
Woman’s hour with Jane Garvey
Huffpost Live
Midweek Cocktail Chatter
with Josh Zepps
Huffpost Live
WorldBrief
with Marc Lamont Hill
BBC World Service
Outlook radio show
with Bann Matt
The Hindu
SUNDAY MAGAZINE
with Parvathi Mehan
UPWORTHY
Moral Courage TV
with Rollie Williams
DEEPAK CHOPRA
One World
with Deepak Chopra
CNN
Live CNN
with Jonathan Mann
Bolly Spice
Burq-Off, Nadia Manzoor’s comic look inside British Pakistani
Community coming to London
India.com
BURQ OFF!: Nadia Manzoor’s One-Woman Show Comically Explores Life as a British Pakistani
by Foram Mehta
Brown Girl Magazine
Nadia Manzoor’s Autobiographical One-Woman Show Explores Life As A British-Pakistani
by Foram Mehta
ELLEindia
The Good Muslim
by Cheryl-Ann Couto
Vogue India
Pierce the veil
by Aarti Virani
Masala Mommas Radio
Twitter Chat
Toronto Desi Diaries
Burq Off! Unveils
Hypocrisy With Humour
The Mississauga News
by Radhika Panjwani
Good Times
GT Film: Famous Four
The Guardian
Unveiled: ‘Nobody expects
Muslim women to be comedians’
REVIEWS
Centre Stage, Theatre:
Nadia Manzoor’s Burq Off! is a compelling coming of age comedy
The National, Arts & Lifestyle:
Nadia Manzoor’s one-woman comedy show explores the cultural contradictions of growing up as British-Pakistani Muslim
Levantine Cultural Center:
The Art of Character
The Daily Beast:
Want This Woman to Lie About Herself? You Can Just BURQ OFF!
Letters From The Mezzanine:
‘BURQ OFF!’ Looks at Western World Through a Burqa
Can A Play Explain The Muslim Diaspora? Nadia Parvez Manzoor’s Burq Off
BURQ OFF!
Off Off Broadway, Solo Show
BURQ OFF!
Teatro Circulo, New York
BURQ OFF!
What It’s Like to Wear a Burqa — and a BikiniBy Jennifer Vanasco
This Week In New York
BURQ OFF!
QUOTES
Christiane Amanpour, CNN International
Resonates deeply right now as the world confronts the brutality of ISIS, especially toward women. . . and it’s funny!
Deepak Chopra
A gutsy, honest, hilarious must-see!
Matthew Bishop. New York Bureau Chief of The Economist
It was terrific!
Vogue India
Nadia Manzoor’s ambitious one-woman show…is a no-holds-barred performance.
Jennifer Vanasco, WNYC
Manzoor is a charismatic and funny performer with a gift for impressions…
Dan Kitrosser, NY Theater Now
Directed by Tara Elliot, Burq Off! is a tour de force of performance and some stage magic…[it is an] impressive, thought provoking and impassioned solo-show about one woman’s journey from orthodoxy in the British-Muslim world to progressivism in the world beyond it.
Antonia Marrero, The Daily Beast
Few artists address the clash of tribalism and modernity with more wit and insight than Nadia P. Manzoor, whose one-woman show, BURQ OFF!, explores themes of sex, religion, culture, truth, and family.
Eleanor Bador, Theater is Easy
Burq Off! Is provocative, and uses humor to elucidate sensitive and thorny social issues. Manzoor’s central question remains important for all immigrants: how best to maintain one’s roots while simultaneously allowing new branches to flourish.
Alice Chinatomby, Brown Girl Magazine
As Manzoor learns how to navigate between her orthodox family life and liberal Western attitudes, she is careful not to portray herself as a victim, but an empowered woman who finds liberation by many instances in her life…With full commitment to express gawky faces and nail each character’s personality, she brings delightful humor to the show.
Sheana Ochoa, Levantine Cultural Center
Once in a while a new talent comes to us with such presence and authenticity, the artistic merit of the work cannot be denied… Nadia P. Manzoor’s one-woman autobiographical play BURQ OFF!…is one such ennobling and humanizing tour de force…It’s also hysterically funny.
Irshad Manji. Bestselling author and founder of Moral Courage.
Nadia P Manzoor has the guts to put EVERYTHING out there. She’s creating taboo conversations with the most provocative and honest of questions — about family, tribe, tradition, religion and the God that dwells within her own conscience. Burq Off is no insult; it’s a call to liberate the human soul from the shackles of shame.