Shortly after the conflict started, Mr. Al Rashi, a television and theater actor who said he was known as a critic of the government, was detained by the Syrian security forces for a few days. After his release, he said, he received intimidating text messages. Someone scrawled “Muslim terrorist” on his car with a key. He found the message absurd. “I’m an actor,” he said. “I have no religion. I don’t believe in God.”

He left, trying his luck first in Lebanon and then settling in Marseilles, France. He does not think he will return to Syria anytime soon.

More than anything, he wants to see life in New York City. Walk the “very small streets,” is how he put it. Go to the small bars. Talk to the cabbies.

Mr. Abusaada, the director, says he wants to return to Syria when he can: It is not only his home, but also the source of his artistic material. “It’s so important to witness what’s happening there,” he said. “I should be inside.” He refused to say what could happen to him and the other members of the cast and crew once they return to Syria.

The trip is perhaps most delicate for Mr. Alrefai. He has toured across Europe and the Persian Gulf, and he has spent time in Beirut. But after each trip, he has returned home to Damascus. His parents wonder why. Because that’s where he wants to be, Mr. Alrefai tells them, despite everything.

The actors have never performed the play in Syria. Its dissident message would not be allowed.

Mr. Alrefai remembers the first time he performed the play in Belgium. On stage, he was saying things he could never say in Syria — “can’t even think in Syria,” he said — and wondered, briefly, whether a police officer would arrest him after the show. No one did.