About us > Past productions > 2005/06 > 9 Parts of Desire
9 Parts of Desire
written by heather raffo
directed by joanna settle
featuring mozhan marnÒ
main season | thrust stage
january 20–march 5, 2006
Running time: 90 minutes, no intermission
A portrait of the extraordinary—and ordinary—lives of a cross-section of Iraqi women, 9 Parts of Desire lifts the veil on women in the war zone. “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.” So begins the New York Times’ radiant review of this remarkable solo performance—the Times’ pick of the week for 24 straight weeks—coming to Berkeley after its highly acclaimed and often-extended off-Broadway run. It’s a work so compassionate that it reveals our shared humanity in a way that CNN never can.
9 Parts of Desire was inspired by Heather Raffo’s 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 women—ultimately collecting the stories and experiences that have created the play’s 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 city’s five best plays. Readings were given in New York as part of The Public’s New Work Now festival before the Manhattan Ensemble Theater production opened in late 2004. After playing Berkeley, the play will travel to Philadelphia, Seattle and Washington, DC, as well as Brazil, France and Turkey.
