by Meghan D'Souza
Dreamwell & ICCT - I will be honest. When I hear someone mention the war in Iraq, my mind goes straight to my personal political thoughts about it, dating back to the first time I learned where Iraq is in the early 90s because of the first war. Sometimes I will think about the civilians and wonder what their thoughts are and what their lives are like, but other than reading an article here and there, I have no way to understand what an Iraqi person is experiencing.
9 Parts of Desire, presented by Dreamwell Theatre and ICCT, is about various Iraqi women's experiences and viewpoints since Iraq has been torn apart by war. The key is that it is about these women's experiences. It isn't a political play, but a poetic play that the playwright, Heather Raffo, comprised after befriending many Iraqi women and learning their stories. Although she did not use their specific stories, she was inspired by what she learned and wrote realistic interpretations. The result is a monologue that painted the mosaic picture of how different Iraqi women have viewed, lived through, and continue to survive the war.
Director Rachel Howell cleverly decided to divide the monologues up among nine talented women who told their individual stories with great passion. Some were so intense and engaging, my heart broke a little and I forced myself to break away mentally so I could take an emotional breather. I'll admit, I felt a little guilty that I had the option to take an emotional break during a play that was about people who never get a break.
One specific heartbreaking story came from Ottavia De Luca, who played a young Iraqi girl. Her eyes were wide with innocence as she nonchalantly explained her life and how she can name a specific gun by its sound. She was angry at her mom for taking her out of school when the American soldiers appeared and thought it was because she waved at them. She thought her mom was overprotective for not letting her go out for fear that she would be kidnapped and sold. She was sad that she had not been in a swimming pool for two years and figured it was because the American soldiers were using it, or maybe it was dried up. Her brothers had been killed in the war, but she was too young to know who they were and didn't feel any emotions about it, but witnessed her mother's intense sadness about losing her boys. She idolized her dad, who she thought was with Saddam Hussein, and she expected him to return at some point.
Listening to De Luca speak like a young girl who is just frustrated with her family and longed to be outside and do fun things reminded me of reading The Diary of Anne Frank. Except this Iraqi Girl did not have enough life experience before the war to know that something like finding bullets is not natural and should not be exciting. While Anne Frank had prewar memories so she could try to create a sort of normal life for herself and hold on to hope for a normal future, the Iraqi Girl simply did not understand why she had to stop going to school and stop going outside alone, but thought hearing machine guns and learning how to shoot a pistol was a part of life. Seeing her so full of energy, but so naive and innocent was absolutely heartbreaking.
Angie Toomsen also did a fantastic job of taking the audience on her character's terrible emotional journey with her. She was an Iraqi American with family members who still lived in Iraq. Even though she lived outwardly in peace, she could never find peace within because she was constantly wondering if her family was okay. She was always watching or reading the news and seeing names of places where her relatives lived and worked and felt unsettled and sick because she could not get in touch with them to know if they were okay. She felt disgusted when the Americans around her felt no empathy for the suffering that people like her family members were going through; she internalized the whole experience. All she could do was watch the news and pray constantly to find comfort. An interesting observation that I discovered the playwright, herself, experienced was when Toomsen's character mentioned hating how the Americans around her cheered for the war on TV at the bars while she hurt for the Iraqis who were burying their loved ones with their own hands in their yards.
The talented cast plus the direction of Rachel Howell most definitely got the playwright's purpose across, which was to give the western audience an intimate glimpse into the real lives of the Iraqi women so we could see them as they are: Women. Not "Other, Unrelatable Beings." All of the stories in the play have incredible perspectives that leave you thinking and feeling like you've really connected with not just another culture, but a completely different way of life and different ways of adapting to it. It's a powerful play.
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Showing posts with label 9 Parts of Desire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 9 Parts of Desire. Show all posts
Monday, August 23, 2010
Friday, August 20, 2010
Tonight's performance of 9 Parts canceled
Dreamwell & ICCT - The performance of 9 Parts of Desire scheduled for tonight, Friday August 20th, has been canceled due to the weather. They have added a rain date of August 29th. The other performances are August 21, 26, 27, and 28.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Backstage at 9 Parts of Desire
Dreamwell & ICCT - It's been a collaborative summer for Dreamwell, Iowa City's resident avant garde theatre. First, they collaborated with City Circle Acting Company of Coralville and the 
Englert to present the All in a Day Play Festival. And now as summer comes to a close, they are back with 9 Parts of Desire by Heather Raffo, a collaboration with the Iowa City Community Theatre, the oldest theatre in town. Presented at the Riverside Stage in Lower City Park, the show was originally performed as a one woman show, chronicling the effects of war on the women of Iraq. ICCT board member and director Rachel Korach Howell has chosen to cast the show with nine women. We had a chance to talk to talk to Rachel as well as three of the actresses in the show, Jen Gerbyshak, Mary Haaf Wedemeyer and Kathy Maxey.
Thank you all for taking the time to answer questions about your show. I know that each of your characters presents a unique perspective. What can you tell me about your character?
Mary: Nanna is a street vendor selling anything she can find on the street corner. She can be scrappy and shrewd. She is resilient, with strength, a survivor. She brings wisdom. She is street smart, the human real side of Iraq. She has seen it all for many years. She has suffered inner spirit, personal loss, terror and horror. I believe her to be an educated woman that has succumbed to this lifestyle. She desires to live. She has to sell; she has to eat.
Kathy: My character is Umm Ghada and her role is to recount the true story of the bombing of the Amiriyah bomb shelter on February 13, 1991. She was a witness to the event and has personally taken on the duty of informing people of the tragedies that occurred.
Jen: I play Amal. In her, there's joy, there's tragedy, and there's a whole lot of humanity. I just love Amal.
How difficult was to get inside of her and create a woman from another country so different from our own?
Mary: In my readings and places I have been, I have found women that like Nanna everywhere. Nanna experiences every day doing what she has to - selling, hustling, watching, having a voice. My connection to Nanna... I personally experienced a deep loss. I found that in order to stay "alive", stay healthy, I had to move on, embrace life. I had to be resilient for me, for my children. That's where we find our basic human needs.
Kathy: Umm Ghada does exist and was a mother who lost her family in the U.S. bombing of the shelter. This is a true story and I believe that the suffering of a parent for the loss of a child is universal and timeless.
What is your favorite moment for your character?
Kathy: I have to say I found my entire monologue to be a very powerful and emotional experience.
Rachel: You know, everyone has "moments" in their pieces. Their different "moments" all do different things for the onlooker. Every time I get choked up, or even guffaw to some extent...yes, it will be possible to smile at times while watching this show... I am reminded of someone I know. The person I see changes every night, and that alone warrants a smile, because somewhere, you know her too.
Mary: For me, I like the tender almost child-like moments of Nanna when she is talking about her mother's dress. Those cherished humanistic, thoughtful moments of her mother. And the end of the last monologue where she feels Layal is the only one who truly "saw and understood" her... "I let her paint me," she says. She loves that painting... she rescues it, but realizes again... she has to...
Don't give it away! To see what she does, we'll just have to see the show. Can you talk a little bit about the space you're performing in?
Rachel: Everyone walked away from rehearsals bit-the-hell-up by the mosquitoes and spiders and such. People brought in citronella candles, herbal and super chemical-ed bug spray, itch relief products, and a lot of will power to refrain from scratching their skin off while maintaining a character through the burn!
So audience members should bring bug spray?
Brian Tanner (Dreamwell board member): We'll have it available for the audience at the box office.
That's great news. So aside from bugs, what was your experience performing outside in this space?
Jen: Well, the play is based on interviews that the playwright conducted - presumably in a private, indoor space. It can be challenging to recreate that kind of intimacy in an open-air environment. On the other hand, there's something magical about a wooden stage under the stars that I think will lend itself very nicely to the timeless human themes of the play.
Kathy: Yes, performing outside in nature seems perfectly fitting for this drama.
How is everyone working together?
Mary: It has been an honor and joy to participate in this production with such amazing, talented, kind and sensitive women.
Jen: We all work together amazingly well. Rachel and Josh picked nine ridiculously strong women, but none of us are divas; everyone has been incredibly generous throughout the rehearsal process. The result is that, even though our interaction in the play is minimal, I think the audience will feel the bond we share so that when we do interact, there will be a continuity that you wouldn't expect from a series of monologues.
Kathy: I have to agree. It has really been an honor to participate in this production with talented and sensitive women.
Rachel, what have been the challenges in directing this show?
Rachel: As it is a show compiled of monologues, scheduling was an interesting challenge. We are all pretty familiar working with other bodies on stage for a fair chunk of the performance material, but we had to approach this in a very different way. I met with each of the women independently for the first few weeks. When we finally put it all together, we were presented with a whole new set of issues. We had to create one full thought out of the many and everyone put in a lot of effort to make each woman unique within a single body.
And how difficult has it been in changing a one woman show into a show for nine actresses?
Rachel: Before auditions, I had no intention of casting more than five women for this show. Knowing it was originally a one woman show, and wanting to do right by the playwright and all the phenomenal women she'd interviewed to create this incredible piece, I felt that keeping the similar idea of the one being the many was essential. But when I had all these women audition for me, I saw so much talent and realized that this show was for all women, so giving so much talent the opportunity to portray all these incredible characters was just reiterating a driving message for the show. All that was already there. Having nine different women instead of one also allowed for some interaction that doesn't appear in the script.
Should we expect to see a political play when we take out seats?
Jen: I think "politics" is a misnomer. We think
about war as a political thing, because most of us haven't experienced it first hand. All we know of war is what our politicians and political activists tell us. To these nine women, war is a daily reality. Most of them have no political ideologies, but none of them had a choice: war found them, again and again and again. It has shaped their lives in ways that we cannot comprehend, and that's where the emphasis of this play lies - in the lives of Iraqi women, and the forces and choices that led them to where they are today.
Kathy: Dreamwell’s 2010 season is Taboo Bijou... Theatre should be challenging and give the audience something to think about and discuss long after the show has ended. To that end, I believe 9 Parts of Desire will not disappoint audiences.
What has been the most rewarding part of this experience for you?
Mary: Being a part of the whole... sharing and enriching the lives of our audience.
Jen: This is the most nuanced role I've ever gotten to play, and I am thrilled at the challenge and the experience it offers.
Kathy: It has been an interesting and emotional journey watching the other actors develop their characters. The support from everyone involved in this production has been wonderful.
What else do you want the audience to know before they arrive?
Jen: I think most people will expect the play to either be hugely political or heavy and depressing. What I really hope that it will be is a learning experience. I hope everyone who sees the play will come to see a new point of view - maybe even nine! - about the Iraqi people. This play is a beautiful piece of art, and I hope people are moved by it, but the eye-opening perspectives are what I want people to take home from this experience.
The show opens Thursday night and runs August 19, 20, 21, 26, 27 and 28 at 8 pm. Tickets available at the door. Cash or check only. For more information go here.
(Cast photo by Dennis Lambing.)
Englert to present the All in a Day Play Festival. And now as summer comes to a close, they are back with 9 Parts of Desire by Heather Raffo, a collaboration with the Iowa City Community Theatre, the oldest theatre in town. Presented at the Riverside Stage in Lower City Park, the show was originally performed as a one woman show, chronicling the effects of war on the women of Iraq. ICCT board member and director Rachel Korach Howell has chosen to cast the show with nine women. We had a chance to talk to talk to Rachel as well as three of the actresses in the show, Jen Gerbyshak, Mary Haaf Wedemeyer and Kathy Maxey.Thank you all for taking the time to answer questions about your show. I know that each of your characters presents a unique perspective. What can you tell me about your character?
Mary: Nanna is a street vendor selling anything she can find on the street corner. She can be scrappy and shrewd. She is resilient, with strength, a survivor. She brings wisdom. She is street smart, the human real side of Iraq. She has seen it all for many years. She has suffered inner spirit, personal loss, terror and horror. I believe her to be an educated woman that has succumbed to this lifestyle. She desires to live. She has to sell; she has to eat.
Kathy: My character is Umm Ghada and her role is to recount the true story of the bombing of the Amiriyah bomb shelter on February 13, 1991. She was a witness to the event and has personally taken on the duty of informing people of the tragedies that occurred.
Jen: I play Amal. In her, there's joy, there's tragedy, and there's a whole lot of humanity. I just love Amal.
How difficult was to get inside of her and create a woman from another country so different from our own?
Mary: In my readings and places I have been, I have found women that like Nanna everywhere. Nanna experiences every day doing what she has to - selling, hustling, watching, having a voice. My connection to Nanna... I personally experienced a deep loss. I found that in order to stay "alive", stay healthy, I had to move on, embrace life. I had to be resilient for me, for my children. That's where we find our basic human needs.
Kathy: Umm Ghada does exist and was a mother who lost her family in the U.S. bombing of the shelter. This is a true story and I believe that the suffering of a parent for the loss of a child is universal and timeless.
What is your favorite moment for your character?
Kathy: I have to say I found my entire monologue to be a very powerful and emotional experience.
Rachel: You know, everyone has "moments" in their pieces. Their different "moments" all do different things for the onlooker. Every time I get choked up, or even guffaw to some extent...yes, it will be possible to smile at times while watching this show... I am reminded of someone I know. The person I see changes every night, and that alone warrants a smile, because somewhere, you know her too.
Mary: For me, I like the tender almost child-like moments of Nanna when she is talking about her mother's dress. Those cherished humanistic, thoughtful moments of her mother. And the end of the last monologue where she feels Layal is the only one who truly "saw and understood" her... "I let her paint me," she says. She loves that painting... she rescues it, but realizes again... she has to...
Don't give it away! To see what she does, we'll just have to see the show. Can you talk a little bit about the space you're performing in?
Rachel: Everyone walked away from rehearsals bit-the-hell-up by the mosquitoes and spiders and such. People brought in citronella candles, herbal and super chemical-ed bug spray, itch relief products, and a lot of will power to refrain from scratching their skin off while maintaining a character through the burn!
So audience members should bring bug spray?
Brian Tanner (Dreamwell board member): We'll have it available for the audience at the box office.
That's great news. So aside from bugs, what was your experience performing outside in this space?
Jen: Well, the play is based on interviews that the playwright conducted - presumably in a private, indoor space. It can be challenging to recreate that kind of intimacy in an open-air environment. On the other hand, there's something magical about a wooden stage under the stars that I think will lend itself very nicely to the timeless human themes of the play.
Kathy: Yes, performing outside in nature seems perfectly fitting for this drama.
How is everyone working together?
Mary: It has been an honor and joy to participate in this production with such amazing, talented, kind and sensitive women.
Jen: We all work together amazingly well. Rachel and Josh picked nine ridiculously strong women, but none of us are divas; everyone has been incredibly generous throughout the rehearsal process. The result is that, even though our interaction in the play is minimal, I think the audience will feel the bond we share so that when we do interact, there will be a continuity that you wouldn't expect from a series of monologues.
Kathy: I have to agree. It has really been an honor to participate in this production with talented and sensitive women.
Rachel, what have been the challenges in directing this show?
Rachel: As it is a show compiled of monologues, scheduling was an interesting challenge. We are all pretty familiar working with other bodies on stage for a fair chunk of the performance material, but we had to approach this in a very different way. I met with each of the women independently for the first few weeks. When we finally put it all together, we were presented with a whole new set of issues. We had to create one full thought out of the many and everyone put in a lot of effort to make each woman unique within a single body.
And how difficult has it been in changing a one woman show into a show for nine actresses?
Rachel: Before auditions, I had no intention of casting more than five women for this show. Knowing it was originally a one woman show, and wanting to do right by the playwright and all the phenomenal women she'd interviewed to create this incredible piece, I felt that keeping the similar idea of the one being the many was essential. But when I had all these women audition for me, I saw so much talent and realized that this show was for all women, so giving so much talent the opportunity to portray all these incredible characters was just reiterating a driving message for the show. All that was already there. Having nine different women instead of one also allowed for some interaction that doesn't appear in the script.
Should we expect to see a political play when we take out seats?
Jen: I think "politics" is a misnomer. We think
about war as a political thing, because most of us haven't experienced it first hand. All we know of war is what our politicians and political activists tell us. To these nine women, war is a daily reality. Most of them have no political ideologies, but none of them had a choice: war found them, again and again and again. It has shaped their lives in ways that we cannot comprehend, and that's where the emphasis of this play lies - in the lives of Iraqi women, and the forces and choices that led them to where they are today.Kathy: Dreamwell’s 2010 season is Taboo Bijou... Theatre should be challenging and give the audience something to think about and discuss long after the show has ended. To that end, I believe 9 Parts of Desire will not disappoint audiences.
What has been the most rewarding part of this experience for you?
Mary: Being a part of the whole... sharing and enriching the lives of our audience.
Jen: This is the most nuanced role I've ever gotten to play, and I am thrilled at the challenge and the experience it offers.
Kathy: It has been an interesting and emotional journey watching the other actors develop their characters. The support from everyone involved in this production has been wonderful.
What else do you want the audience to know before they arrive?
Jen: I think most people will expect the play to either be hugely political or heavy and depressing. What I really hope that it will be is a learning experience. I hope everyone who sees the play will come to see a new point of view - maybe even nine! - about the Iraqi people. This play is a beautiful piece of art, and I hope people are moved by it, but the eye-opening perspectives are what I want people to take home from this experience.
The show opens Thursday night and runs August 19, 20, 21, 26, 27 and 28 at 8 pm. Tickets available at the door. Cash or check only. For more information go here.
(Cast photo by Dennis Lambing.)
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
9 Parts of Desire cast chosen
Dreamwell/ICCT - Rachel Howell, director of the Dreamwell Theatre-Iowa City Community Theatre co-production of 9 Parts of Desire by Heather Raffo, has announced the cast.
Amal—Jen Gerbyshak
The American—Angie Toomsen
The Doctor—Ashley Yates
Huda—Meg Dobbs
Iraqi Girl—Ottavia De Luca
Layal—Sarah Jarmon
Mullaya—Robyn McCright
Nanna—Mary Haaf Wedemeyer
Umm Ghada—Kathy Maxey
The show opens August 19th at the Riverside Festival Stage in Lower City Park.
Amal—Jen Gerbyshak
The American—Angie Toomsen
The Doctor—Ashley Yates
Huda—Meg Dobbs
Iraqi Girl—Ottavia De Luca
Layal—Sarah Jarmon
Mullaya—Robyn McCright
Nanna—Mary Haaf Wedemeyer
Umm Ghada—Kathy Maxey
The show opens August 19th at the Riverside Festival Stage in Lower City Park.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Auditions for 9 Parts coming up
Dreamwell & ICCT - Dreamwell Theatre and Iowa City Community Theatre join forces to produce 9 Parts of Desire, a portrait of the extraordinary (and ordinary) lives of a cross-section of Iraqi women: a sexy painter, a radical Communist, doctors, exiles, wives and lovers.
Heather Raffo's critically-acclaimed work, directed by Rachel Howell, dives into the conflicting aspects of what it means to be a woman in the age-old war zone of Iraq. An unusually timely meditation on the ancient, the modern and the feminine in a country overshadowed by war.
Audition Dates/Time:
Sunday, June 20, 2010, 4:30-6:30 p.m.
Monday, June 21, 2010, 6:00-9:00 p.m.
Iowa City Public Library, Meeting Room A
Actors Needed: 5-9 women, various ages, ethnicities.
What to prepare: Sides will be provided at the auditions. A full script is available for check out at the Reserve Desk at the Iowa City Public Library.
Rehearsal Process: Begins end of June, flexible rehearsal scheduling.
Performance Dates: August 19, 20, 21, 26, 27, 28 at the Riverside Festival Stage.
For more information contact director Rachel Howell at rachelhowell23@gmail.com
Heather Raffo's critically-acclaimed work, directed by Rachel Howell, dives into the conflicting aspects of what it means to be a woman in the age-old war zone of Iraq. An unusually timely meditation on the ancient, the modern and the feminine in a country overshadowed by war.
Audition Dates/Time:
Sunday, June 20, 2010, 4:30-6:30 p.m.
Monday, June 21, 2010, 6:00-9:00 p.m.
Iowa City Public Library, Meeting Room A
Actors Needed: 5-9 women, various ages, ethnicities.
What to prepare: Sides will be provided at the auditions. A full script is available for check out at the Reserve Desk at the Iowa City Public Library.
Rehearsal Process: Begins end of June, flexible rehearsal scheduling.
Performance Dates: August 19, 20, 21, 26, 27, 28 at the Riverside Festival Stage.
For more information contact director Rachel Howell at rachelhowell23@gmail.com
Monday, November 30, 2009
Dreamwell announces 2010 season
Dreamwell - Dreamwell Theatre again offers a season centered around a particular theme. Its 13th season - "Taboo Bijou" - features works intended to raise questions about topics considered "taboo" and why. From language to terrorism to various expressions of sexuality, the plays push boundaries and limits by confronting subjects that are often difficult or inappropriate to discuss. Dreamwell adds that the purpose of "taboo bijou" is not mere shock value, but rather the examination of personal fears and desires in the context of social perception and stigma.
Poona the F**kdog (and other plays for children)
by Jeff Goode
February 19, 20, 26, 27 2010
The perfect naughty fairy tale to open a "taboo" season, this show skewers society's views on everything from sex to terrorism to language. (Despite the title, this play is not suitable for children).
Blackbird
by David Harrower
March 19, 20, 26, 27 2010
An intense play about a sexual relationship that transformed, crippled and paralyzed an adult man and a 12-year-old girl.
9 Parts of Desire* by Heather Raffo
August 2010
A play about the women of Iraq, showcasing their humanity.
A View from the Bridge*by Arthur Miller
October 8, 9, 15, 16 2010
The classic play of a man who betrays his family’s trust and suffers the consequences.
The first Dreamwell Writer’s Joust: A Fear Festival
December 2010
Dreamwell is currently soliciting from Iowa playwrights full length plays about something people are afraid to talk about. Deadline for submissions is March 1, 2010. Winning playwright will be awarded $100 and a full production. Two runners up will have staged readings during the festival.
And coming up on February 14th, "Down With Love: An Anti-Valentines Day Valentines Day Cabaret." Dreamwell's first Valentines Day cabaret is a perfect date night for Valentines Day fans and hard core cynics alike. Members of Dreamwell and other area theatres will share songs from various eras, covering topics about lovers scorned, loves unrequited and what a completely annoying little jerk the devilish Cupid can be.
For more information, go here.
*pending rights
Poona the F**kdog (and other plays for children)
by Jeff Goode
February 19, 20, 26, 27 2010
The perfect naughty fairy tale to open a "taboo" season, this show skewers society's views on everything from sex to terrorism to language. (Despite the title, this play is not suitable for children).
Blackbird
by David Harrower
March 19, 20, 26, 27 2010
An intense play about a sexual relationship that transformed, crippled and paralyzed an adult man and a 12-year-old girl.
9 Parts of Desire* by Heather Raffo
August 2010
A play about the women of Iraq, showcasing their humanity.
A View from the Bridge*by Arthur Miller
October 8, 9, 15, 16 2010
The classic play of a man who betrays his family’s trust and suffers the consequences.
The first Dreamwell Writer’s Joust: A Fear Festival
December 2010
Dreamwell is currently soliciting from Iowa playwrights full length plays about something people are afraid to talk about. Deadline for submissions is March 1, 2010. Winning playwright will be awarded $100 and a full production. Two runners up will have staged readings during the festival.
And coming up on February 14th, "Down With Love: An Anti-Valentines Day Valentines Day Cabaret." Dreamwell's first Valentines Day cabaret is a perfect date night for Valentines Day fans and hard core cynics alike. Members of Dreamwell and other area theatres will share songs from various eras, covering topics about lovers scorned, loves unrequited and what a completely annoying little jerk the devilish Cupid can be.
For more information, go here.
*pending rights
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