Go Into The Story Interview (Part 3): Omar Al Dakheel and Elie El Choufany

Omar Al Dakheel and Elie El Choufany wrote the original screenplay The Washroom which won a 2025-2026 Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting. I had an hour-long conversation with the pair exploring their creative backgrounds, analyzing their Nicholl-winning screenplay, and a discussion of key aspects of the screenwriting craft.

Today in Part 3, Omar, Elie, and I delve into the main character's in their Nicholl-winning script The Washroom.

Scott: That leads us to your story's protagonist, Waleed.  Could you talk about that character and where he starts his journey at the beginning of the story?

Elie: In the beginning of the story, Waleed wants to be a dutiful son. He grew up in a space where a big part of him actually belongs. He loves the mosque. He loves his town. He loves the community. He loves his dad. So, he's coming from a place of love, but, But he's also in love with his childhood best friend. And that comes in direct conflict with what it means to be part of the community, what it means to be his father's son, what it means to be a Muslim man in Texas. In the beginning, he is hiding part of himself.

He is hiding his relationship with Hassan, and he cannot come to terms with what it means to be seen. That's where the story starts.

Scott: You could have set this in northern California or in Chicago, both welcoming environment for people of varying gender identities and sexual orientation. But Texas is a really interesting choice because of the state’s right-wing politics.

Omar: Texas has a large and deeply rooted Muslim community, and that was important to us. I also understand why people from the Middle East might feel at home there. The climate, the landscape, the oil culture, even certain aspects of the social culture, can feel surprisingly familiar.

And that's what makes it interesting dramatically. These aren't people saying, ‘We hate Texas, let's leave.’ They built their lives there. They love their communities. So the question becomes: can you deeply love a place and still struggle with the parts of it that don't fully make room for you? That's also Waleed's relationship with his Muslim community.

Scott: The way you introduce Waleed at the beginning of the script. The first two scenes, he's fixing a light fixture in the mosque. Then in the next scene he's trying to deal with a water leak in the women's section. That sets into motion two storylines. One is that there's a financial concern. The  mosque doesn't have the financial means to deal with an issue that they've got with not having the property to do the burials because the cemetery is full.

But that it also deals with the issue of the women. So, talk about that. How did that come about in the terms of the writing?

Elie: The narrative of the women's section always belonged in The Washroom because I think what we find most interesting is the idea that two truths are always cohabiting, and it's not just Waleed is fighting to belong, but the women are fighting to belong in the same way. And both things are  happening at the same time. And there's also the idea of how gender plays a role, not just sexual identity within the community. And what is interesting, too, is that there are these fights for belonging and identity happening all over.

And through Waleed's eyes we begin to see it a little bit more. And it just sheds a little light on how everyone is the same. Everyone's fighting the same battle. Everyone's wanting to be seen. Everyone's wanting to be loved in different ways. And choosing to see it and do something about it makes all the difference.

Scott: I was struck by, like literally these are the first words in your script. He’s in mosque, prayer room.

"Bends a sea of intricate carpet woven with deep blue and gold, stretches beneath a domed ceiling of stained glass. Sunlight filters through, fracturing into a mosaic of shifting colors, a celestial painting cast onto the floor."

Very visual writing, right?

"Above, sweeping Arabic calligraphy encircles the dome. Quranic verses flowing like waves and gold leaf tracing the curve of the heavens."

Quote, "Indeed, with hardship comes ease."

And doesn't that describe Waleed’s journey?

Omar: It is exactly that. That's one of my favorite verses in the Quran, ‎إِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا. It's a beautiful verse. Every time you feel like life is getting really tough, it gives me solace to think of that and be like, when it becomes really hard, that ease will come.

You just have to go through it. And, Yeah, there's a lot of things that we were trying to show about the beauty of Islam and the beauty of the Muslim community because we don't want this story or this film to be like, "Okay, why don't you just leave?”

When someone says, ‘Why don't you just leave?’ I always think: leave what exactly? Your faith? Your country? Your family? Your community? It's not that simple. It's more complex than that. I think the idea that we all circle around is belonging. And to me as a Muslim man just because I disagree with a lot of the things in my community, which is Scott, what you mentioned earlier, we're trying to show from the woman's section and from the fixer and all of that what the, what we're trying to say, the, the subtext is that there is issues internally within the mosque.

They're fighting the battle with the outside world, with the cemetery and everything, but there's issues like the women’s section, and so even when the plumber comes in, it's like, this place is--

Scott: It’s rotting.

Omar: Yeah. If you let it, it's going to be destroyed from inside. So that's what we're trying to say, is that there's issues internally and you have to fix them. The same thing mirrors the Waleed's journey, is him fighting for other people and carving space for other, literally space, physical space for other people while denying space for himself in this journey and hiding who he is until the end. 

And unfortunately, that denial ultimately has devastating consequences. I think that verse is really beautiful and there's a lot of things in the story, even in the sermon and other things that also we're trying to exemplify the beauty of Islam. We never wanted this to be a judgment of Islam, Texas, Christianity or any community. We wanted it to be a complex human story. And if there's hope at the end, it's the possibility that there can be space for everyone.

Scott: You're talking about identity.

Omar: Yeah.

For Part 1 of the interview, go here.

Part 2, here.

Tomorrow in Part 4, we discuss the father-son relationship which lies at the core of The Washroom, plus, their use of the visual throughout the script: water.

I have interviewed every Nicholl winner since 2012. You may read those interviews here: LINK.