Critically-acclaimed Mo`olelo Performing Arts Company announces its fall 2009 production will be Heather Raffo's 9 Parts of Desire, running from October 7 to November 1, 2009, at the 10th Avenue Theatre in Downtown San Diego. Press opening will take place on Saturday, October 10, 2009, at 7:30 p.m.
Written by Heather Raffo, an alumna of the University of San Diego (USD)/The Old Globe M.F.A. program, 9 Parts of Desire explores the extraordinary and ordinary lives of a whole cross-section of contemporary Iraqi women living in Iraq , London , and New York . The play is a journey through the lives of these nine women as they deal with the world around them. Through their voices we hear multiple perspectives on and the sometimes conflicting aspects of what it means to be a woman in the age-old war zone that is Iraq . Surprising and captivating, the play received the 2005 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize Special Commendation and a Lucille Lortel Award for Best Solo Show.
Heather Raffo will be in San Diego on May 3, 2009, to receive the 2009 Author E. Hughes Career Achievement Award from the College of Arts and Sciences at USD and perform In Concert: The Sounds of Desire, a spoken word adaptation of 9 Parts of Desire with accomplished jazz trumpeter and Iraqi santoor player Amir El Saffar.
"It's no surprise Mo`olelo is tackling this play during our current political climate," says director Janet Hayatshahi (The Turn of the Screw, Cygnet Theatre) "As Americans, we can only benefit from a better understanding of Iraqi society. This play shows us, through a kaleidoscope of thoughts and images, the humanity of Iraq , instead of the war zone we have come to associate it with."
Mo`olelo means story in Hawaiian. Selected as the inaugural Resident Theatre Company at La Jolla Playhouse, Mo`olelo Performing Arts Company is a socially-conscious theatre organization dedicated to broadening the scope of San Diego's cultural environment by telling powerful stories that are as diverse as the islands of Hawaii, by paying Equity wages to local actors and developing environmentally-friendly theatre practices. A recipient of the Patté, San Diego Theatre Critics Circle, McDonald Playwriting and the Anti-Discrimination Awards, its mission is to create new works based on research within various communities, produce lesser-known works by master and contemporary playwrights, and educate youth. To learn more, visit www.moolelo.net or call 619-342-7395.
Heather Raffo (Playwright) - Heather trained as an actress and has spent the last ten years performing off Broadway, off West End , in regional theater and in film. She is the author of the play 9 Parts of Desire, a one-woman show told through the lives of nine Iraqi women. Heather is the recipient of a Susan Smith Blackburn Prize Special Commendation and the Marian Seldes-Garson Kanin Fellowship for 9 Parts of Desire. She received a 2005 Lucille Lortel award for Best Solo Show as well as Helen Hayes, Outer Critics Circle and Drama League nominations, for outstanding performance.
Heather first performed 9 Parts of Desire in August 2003 at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh . It later moved to the Bush Theatre in London 's Off-West End where critics hailed it as one of the five best plays in London in late 2003. It's New York premiere was at the Manhattan Ensemble Theatre, where the show ran for nine months and was a critics pick (of the New York Times, Time Out and Village Voice) for over twenty four weeks in a row. Most recently, Heather performed a concert version of the play at Kennedy Center with renowned Iraqi Musician, Amir ElSaffar.
Since 2005 9 Parts of Desire has been produced across the U.S. was the fifth most produced play of the 2007-2008 American theater season. It is currently being translated for international productions in Brazil , Greece , Sweden , Turkey and France . Publications are by Northwestern University Press and Dramatists Play Service as well as a number of anthologies.
Heather's recent acting credits include: In Darfur (world premiere The Public Theater, Delacourt) Nerjas ElSaffar, New York premiere Palace of the End, Epic Theater Center; Sarah Woodruff, world premiere The French Lieutenant's Woman, Fulton Opera House. Off-Broadway: Over The River and Through the Woods, Off Broadway/National Tour of Macbeth (Lady Macbeth), The Merry Wives of Windsor (Mistress Page) and The Rivals all with The Acting Company. Raffo received her bachelor of arts in English from the University of Michigan and her masters of fine arts in acting performance from the University of San Diego . She also studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London . For current information regarding 9 Parts of Desire please visit www.heatherraffo.com.
Janet Hayatshahi (Director) - Janet trained as an actor and has spent time on stage in San Diego , Chicago , and the central coast of California . She was an ensemble member of Sledgehammer Theatre from 2000-2005 and of Eclipse Theatre Company in Chicago from 1996-1998.
Her directing credits include: The Turn of the Screw (Cygnet Theatre), Inside Story: Middle-Eastern Tales (Theatre of the World Festival 2009, SDSU), and a staged reading of 9 Parts of Desire (Thurgood Marshall Human Rights and Global Citizenship).
Selective Acting credits include: Remains (Mo`olelo Performing Arts Company), A Dream Play, Macbeth, nu, [sic], Berzerkergäng, Richard III, Furious Blood, Phenomenal Acceleration, Chrysalis: Rapechild (Sledgehammer Theatre), Master Class (Poway Center for Performing Arts), Taming of the Shrew, Macbeth (Central Coast Shakespeare), Beyond Therapy, Marvin's Room, Rules of Love (Centerpoint Theatre Group). In Chicago : Agamemnon (European Repertory Theatre), Infernal Machine, Knights of the Round Table (Eclipse Theatre Company).
Janet received her BFA from Ithaca College , MA from San Diego State University , and also trained at the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts. Janet will be an MFA candidate in Dance Theatre at the University of California , San Diego starting in the fall of 2009.
Janet currently teaches in the theatre departments of San Diego State University , Grossmont College , and San Diego City College and is a Teaching Artist for The Old Globe and The La Jolla Playhouse.
