The occasion of building an NYU Abu Dhabi Arts Center on Saadiyat Island, as part of NYU's campus there, and the Tisch School planning a new Institute of Performing Arts Center (IPAC) in lower Manhattan create an opportunity for conceiving a dynamic, collaborative Middle East-meets-West partnership. This partnership has the potential to disrupt conventional expectations of both a liberal arts education and professional theatre training as well as to build bridges to new audiences.