Midwest premiere of '9 Parts of Desire' begins Jan. 31 in Dearborn
DEARBORN –
If there's one voice that's been missing throughout the coverage of the Iraqi war, it's been that of the Iraqi women who are living it. Even in Metro Detroit – with its large Middle Eastern population – little is heard about the day-to-day struggles women face in a country besieged by bombs and journalistic indifference. But a powerful, one-woman play about those experiences is set to open Jan.31 at the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center in Dearborn, and its director hopes a broader dialogue will begin as a result of it.
"It really changed my outlook on the war and its human cost," Ed Nahhat said of the play "9 Parts of Desire" he's staging for his Water Works Theatre Company and the Arab Theatrical Arts Guild.
Written by Heather Raffo, who is of mixed Iraqi and American heritage, "9 Parts of Desire" won rave reviews throughout its nine-month, sold-out run that began in New York in October 2004. The script is based on the author's experiences visiting Baghdad after the first Gulf War and the passionate women she met there.
It wasn't long after its opening that Nahhat first heard of the play, thanks to a story broadcast on local National Public Radio affiliate WDET-FM. Intrigued, he arranged to see it in March 2005. "I was inspired by it, and I felt it was an important piece of work that needed to be shared with people here. I knew there'd be an audience for it."
Nahhat, who like the playwright is half Arabic and half American, met with Raffo – a Michigan native – backstage after the performance. "I was one of the few people from around the country coming to her saying, 'I want to do your show,'" he recalled. "The rest is history."
The play reveals the human side of the suffering in Iraq, Nahhat said. "What's special is its focus on the feminine and female side of the war. It reveals a lot of information about the war that you don't get from CNN or the newspaper."
Plus, it's not a one-sided story, the director emphasized. "It's extremely balanced. There are characters that, even though they suffer from the war, are in favor of it. Then there are those that are dead set against the war. So when I saw it, I realized that it's not a political play, but a human play."
The women
"9 Parts of Desire" is not a traditional multi-character play with a straightforward story to tell. Rather, it features nine ordinary Iraqi women living separate, but extraordinary lives during a war not of their making. Each is a different woman experiencing the war in different ways, director Nahhat explained. That meant an actress had to be cast with the talent and versatility to play a variety of characters that range in age from late pre-teen to senior adult. The director wasn't worried, however, because while watching the show in New York, he already knew who he wanted to play all nine women: Sarab Kamoo.
A multiple Wilde Award-nominee for roles at the Purple Rose and Meadow Brook Theatres, the versatile Kamoo eagerly signed on to the project. "It's an incredible challenge that I've never had before," Kamoo said of appearing in a one-person show. "And what an opportunity it is to be able to do something related to my heritage. It's a great mix of me as an actor and who I am as a Chaldean woman."
For Kamoo, whose Catholic parents fled mostly Muslim Baghdad nearly four decades ago because of religious persecution, part of the fun is finding each woman's voice. "They're real people, and it was easy to find part of myself that fit in to each of them," Kamoo said. "They all just want to be heard. Obviously, some of them are extremely different from me and I haven't had those experiences, but I think with any character you can always find something that relates to you to make it more your own and more believable."
The production
Uniting the two theater companies to produce the show was a logical decision for Nahhat. Both his own company and ATAG are non-profits with very specific missions, and each has agreements with Actors' Equity, the union for professional stage actors. "And since I'm half Arabic, I've worked there, so I thought it would be a natural partnership for the show."
Much has happened in Iraq since Raffo first wrote and starred in "9 Parts of Desire," so the playwright has graciously provided Nahhat and Kamoo with special rewrites to bring it up to date. "So we're actually doing a version of the play that's never been done before, and we're pretty excited about that," Nahhat said.
"It's a rare opportunity to see a woman's perspective regarding the war," Kamoo reflected. "But everybody who dies over there is somebody's child, so I want all those perspectives looked at."
http://www.waterworkstheatre.com or http://www.arabtheater.org
'9 Parts of Desire'
Co-produced by The Arab Theatrical Arts Guild and Water Works Theatre Company in Studio A of the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center, 15801 Michigan Ave., Dearborn. Wed.-Sun., Jan. 31-Feb. 11. Tickets: $23-$29. For tickets: 313-943-2354 or http://www.dearbornfordcenter.com
