Faiza Alex Manaa is an Egyptian-American librettist, playwright, and composer-lyricist based in NYC. Her work has been performed Off-Broadway, featured at major venues such as 54 Below and Joe’s Pub, and commissioned by nationally acclaimed arts organizations. She is passionate about accessibility in the arts, and amplifying stories that aren’t traditionally told. Her work explores Arab & diaspora culture, intergenerational and cross-cultural family dynamics, and uncomfortable truths about humanity.

Faiza is a 2026 Artist in Residence with the NYU Production Lab, for her musical The MENA Show (co-written with Vaheed Talebian, directed by George Abud), which follows a group of Arab & Persian-American students fighting to showcase their humanity through the arts amidst the 2017 Muslim Travel Ban. The musical was accepted into the Spark Theatre Festival in 2025, received a 29-hour reading at NYU Tisch in 2024, a one-week developmental workshop at the Goodspeed Opera House, and was a 2024 Eugene O’Neill National Music Theatre Conference semi-finalist, and 2024 American Music Theatre Project semi-finalist. 

Additionally, Faiza wrote the book and lyrics for Another Cousin’s Wedding (music by Vaheed Talebian), a 20 minute musical dramedy wherein a young man and his family struggle to cover their secrets at a family wedding. The musical was first workshopped at NYU Tisch, and premiered Off-Broadway as part of The International Human Rights Art Festival at The Tank in 2024. As a composer-lyricist, Faiza also wrote the book, lyrics, and co-music for her hip-hop musical Illest Dance (co-music by Ruchir Khazanchi), which received a workshop by the American Music Theatre Project in 2022.

As an opera librettist, Faiza was commissioned by the Washington National Opera to write The Curse of the Magi (music by Christopher Dietz), a dark comedy with a twist on O. Henry’s classic tale, wherein a wife and husband secretly conspire with the same Hitman Consultant to take each other out. It received a world premiere at WNO Studio in Washington D.C. in May 2026. Additionally, Faiza wrote the libretto for Windy (music by Michael Oosterhout), a chamber opera following a woman of the same name through three stages of her life in the same apartment complex; Windy received a production through the American Opera Project in 2024. Faiza is a proud alum of the NYU Opera Lab.

Faiza holds an MFA in Musical Theatre Writing from NYU Tisch, and a BA in Theatre (Musical Theatre Writing & Playwriting) from Northwestern University. She is a proud member of the Dramatist Guild, and Opera America.