Presents 9 Parts of Desire written by Heather Raffo and directed by Karen Nylund, a portrait of the extraordinaryand ordinarylives of a cross-section of Iraqi women. This Sacramento premiere plays Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm from June 20th to July 20th, at California Stage, 1723 25th Street, Sacramento. There will be two Sunday matinees at 2 pm on July 13th and 20th. Tickets are $12 general and $10 for seniors, students and SARTA members. To reserve tickets please call 916-456-1600 or email beyondpro@sbcglobal.net. More information can be found at the BPP web site: Beyond-Pro.org.

9 Parts of Desire was inspired by Heather Raffos trip to the Saddam Art Center in Baghdad, where she saw room after room filled with billboard-sized portraits of Saddam Hussein before discovering a back room, with little more than a nude woman clinging to a barren tree. There was a light in front of her like a sun, Raffo remembers, and her head was hanging, bowed. It was titled Savagery.

Curious about the artist who created this striking work and the world that inspired her, Raffo began interviewing Iraqi womenultimately collecting the stories and experiences that have created the plays composite characters.

9 Parts of Desire was first performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and then moved to London, where The Independent hailed it as one of the citys five best plays. Readings were given in New York as part of The Publics New Work Now festival before the Manhattan Ensemble Theater production opened in late 2004.


Reviews and Testimonials for 9 Parts of Desire:

"POWERFUL, IMPASSIONED, VIVID, MEMORABLE! Heather Raffo, an American actress of American and Iraqi heritage, is the sole performer on the stage, but she's far from lonely up there: she inhabits her characters with such compelling vibrancy that they do not entirely disappear when she moves from one to the next. The voices are a study in contrasts: vivid and subdued, sophisticated and naïve, seductive and standoffish. But they cohere to form a powerful collective portrait of suffering and endurance in Nine Parts of Desire, Ms. Raffo's impassioned theatrical documentary about the lives of contemporary Iraqi women. Ms.Raffo's portraits are all marked by vivid, memorable details, and a measure of lyricism is provided by her fluid and energetic performance, which has been sensitively shaped by the director, Joanna Settle." -- Charles Isherwood , NEW YORK TIMES

Nine Parts of Desire is a stunning, vivid, and impressively acted production that movingly depicts the horrors faced by Iraqi women over the last century. Amnesty International has been publicizing the rights violations women face everywhere, and this play without taking sides translates these life threatening and life ruining experiences women face in an uncannily brilliant way to the stage. The play is so powerful, it can act as a catalyst to all of us to take steps to help ease the agony suffered by women in Iraq , as well as around the world. Sheila Dauer Director/Women's Human Rights Program Amnesty International USA

I learned more about the situation of women in Iraq from Raffo's one woman show than almost anything else I've read on the subject. Raffo is astonishing as she enacts 9 different Iraqi women of all ages, shapes and sizes and tells the story of their suffering, resistance and irrepressible humanity. In addition to being riveting theater, Raffo's play tears down the pernicious stereotypes of Arab women and illuminates the universality of women's oppression. Go see this play - you will not look at Iraq in the same way again." Jennifer Fasulo, Executive Director SOLIDARITY with the ORGANIZATION OF WOMEN'S FREEDOM IN IRAQ