“My goal is to offer audiences something they’ve not seen before. A show that depicts the lives of a family of Arab American women of multiple generations. One of the topics I’m looking to explore is what it means to be a woman in this day and age where many of us are opting not to marry or have kids. What I’m also looking to explore is how our relationships with our parents change as they get older. Nothing in our culture prepares us for seeing our parents become more fragile or taking care of them when they get sick. It’s a conversation most of us don’t want to have, although I feel that shifting somewhat. I want to explore these topics with humor and humanity.”

About Cherien

Cherien Dabis is an award-winning narrative television writer, producer and director. She was born in Omaha, Nebraska to Palestinian immigrant parents and was raised between small town Ohio and Amman, Jordan. Studying dance and theater in her youth, she went on to earn her MFA in film from Columbia University. Her feature films AMREEKA (2009) and MAY IN THE SUMMER (2013) both had their world premieres at the Sundance Film Festival. Amreeka was awarded the coveted FIPRESCI prize at Cannes. It went on to win a dozen more international awards and was nominated for a Best Picture Gotham Award, 3 Independent Spirit Awards and was named one of the Top Ten Independent Films of the Year by the National Board of Review. She has since written and directed on numerous Television shows, including: FOX’s EMPIRE, NETFLIX’S OZARK, ABC’S QUANTICO, USA’s THE SINNER, and HULU’s RAMY.