9 Parts of Desire/Press
A Solitary Woman, Embodying All of Iraq by Charles Isherwood
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.” full article
Invisible Women by Terry Teachout
Heather Raffo, the Iraqi-American playwright and performer of “Nine Parts of Desire,” directed by Joanna Settle and now playing Off Broadway at Manhattan Ensemble Theater, brings us closer to the inner life of Iraq than a thousand slick-surfaced TV reports. Yet her beautifully shaped one-woman play is a play, not a stodgily earnest piece of documentary theater, and therein lies its singular force and compulsion: It is persuasive precisely because it is beautiful. full article
The Fury and the Jury by John Lahr
Women, and men, make themselves heard.
Heather RaffoThe first Gulf War came to us via satellite and without words. The road to Basra—the totem of that military cakewalk—was a silent spectacle of incineration. Now, in the second Gulf adventure, Americans can hear the war, but the wall of silence around the female experience of carnage remains more or less intact. War and tyranny dehumanize the enemy; silence is part of that process. To inflict pain, physical or psychic, turns us away from the world; we stop thinking and feeling. In “9 Parts of Desire” (at the Manhattan Ensemble Theatre), Heather Raffo’s remarkable one-woman show, which bears witness to Iraqi women’s political oppression, an expatriate named Hooda explains that, in the case of Saddam’s henchmen, “their way, I promise you—their way it’s to torture the people close to you.” She adds, “One woman I was with, they bring her baby, three months old baby, outside the cell, they put this woman’s baby in a bag with starving cats. They tape-record the sound of this and of her rape and they play it for her husband in his cell.” She asks, “How could these people have liberated themselves?” full article
9 PARTS OF DESIRE PRESS COMMENTS:
“An extremely moving, riveting and powerful piece of theater!” –Tina Brown, CNBC-TV
“An indelible picture of the effect of the wars on very different Iraqi women.”
–Linda Winer, NEWSDAY
“Heather Raffo fleshes out these women with such chameleon-like grace, with such a raging desire to tell the world about life in Iraq. Let’s hope that, after the show’s SoHo stint, that she takes these women to stages around the world! Joanna Settle’s keenly paced production and Raffo’s thoughtful, poetic writing brings a gallery of souls to life!”
— Michael Sommers, STAR-LEDGER
“We’ve been told of the inhumanity Iraqi women experience. Told by men. Coming from a woman’s mouth – in this case, chameleonic actress-playwright Heather Raffo – the words cut bone deep. It took nearly 10 years of research to give voice to these profoundly moving stories, and we only need to listen. Rated: A”
— Melissa Rose Bernardo, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
Heather Raffo performs her riveting solo show, Nine Parts of Desire, with the exactitude and artistry of an accomplished mosaicist. In a series of brief monologues, with consummate attention to character, she vividly inhabits nine distinct Iraqi women, based on a decade of interviews. Raffo’s women, each uniquely colorful, merge to from a complex portrait of modern Iraqi identity!”
– Adam Feldman, TIME OUT NEW YORK
“Iraqi-American performer Heather Raffo spent a decade interviewing a cross section of Iraqi women to prepare this deeply stirring one-woman show. She takes no sides, only echoing the anguished voices of a nation torn apart by decades of repression, violence and war.” –– Jorge Morales, VILLAGE VOICE
“Raffo is a talented performer, and Nine Parts of Desire is a haunting, ambitious work!”
-Robert Trussell, THE KANSAS CITY STAR
“Raffo pours passion and expertise into each characterization, and the result is dramatically engaging theater! Raffo’s poetic dialogue and acting skills have a powerful effect that keeps the intensity level high.”
—William Wolf, WOLF ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE
“A gorgeous, versatile, powerful work! Ms. Raffo introduces us to a beautiful array of vibrant, warm, ordinary Iraqi women.” — Helen Shaw , NY SUN
Illuminating and moving! Raffo’s portraits project a spellbinding power!” –Marilyn Stasio, VARIETY
“A brilliant, powerful, first-rate production. Raffo jumps from one memorable character to the next, each with a heartbreaking story, and yet a surprising amount of humor!” –Adam Klasfeld, THEATERMANIA
“There is something special going on in the New York Theater world. Nine Parts of Desire is perhaps the most powerful in a long line of advocacy theater which has swept through New York in recent years. Ms. Raffo has done a great service in writing and performing this play. Her solo performance makes it even more spectacular, as she seamlessly shifts from one character to another, stitching together a narrative which gives the audience a deeper understanding of the world of Iraq ‘s women.” —Damaso Reyes, THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS
“The female half of Iraq has come to America . That’s the feeling you’ll get as you watch the chameleon body, heart, mind and artistry of Heather Raffo in Nine Parts of Desire. Don’t miss this amazing theatrical experience!” —Gloria Steinem
“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
“Nine Parts of Desire distills so much pain, resilience and hope that it reflects the very soul of Iraq . I am the richer for having seen this stunning play. Heather Raffo is, ultimately, like myself, an ambassador for my country. But while I communicate at an official level, Ms. Raffo communicates at a far more profound, human level. Every American should see Nine Parts of Desire.”
— Ambassador Samir Shakir Suaidaie, Permanent Representative of Iraq to the United Nations
“Nine Parts of Desire is an amazing play with a powerful performance that will no doubt wake people up to the realities of the situation that Iraqi women are facing. Everyone should see it! Thank you for helping to bring the voices of Iraqi women to public attention.” —Jessica Neuwirth, President EQUALITY NOW
“Heather Raffo commands the stage in a larger than life performance in Nine Parts of Desire, a profoundly moving play about the clash of cultures confronting Iraqi women today. With dignity, depth and wit, Raffo convincingly does what women have always done: play many parts in a drama where the protagonists (men) create the circumstances. I urge everyone to see it!” —Gloria Feldt, President – Planned Parenthood
“Nine Parts of Desire is a powerful piece of theater that still echoes within me. The play — and Heather Raffo’s performance as nine different Iraqi women — demands a moral response from all theatergoers. It’s a must see.” —Molly Klopot, Chair, WOMEN’S INT’L LEAGUE FOR PEACE AND FREEDOM – NY METRO
“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
