This presentation is the result of a collaborative effort between ACT, the University of Washington's School of Drama and Ilkhom. UW has a long-standing connection to Ilkhom and its artistic director, Mark Weil. Weil first came to Seattle representing Ilkhom as part of a "Sister City" exchange in the '80s. In the '90s his daughter enrolled at UW, and eventually his wife and other daughter settled in Seattle. The family was introduced to the School of Drama's Executive Director, Sarah Nash Gates, who hired Weil to direct Nikolai Erdman's The Suicide for the school in 2002. Since 2003, 10 UW drama majors have traveled to Tashkent to work with Ilkhom first hand.