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Unicorn brings ‘Desire’ to Park
By Ray Weikal
Kansas City’s Unicorn Theatre is bringing the war-torn story of Iraqi women to the Northland.
The play “Nine Parts of Desire” will be performed today to Sunday, March 30, at Park University’s Jenkin and Barbara David Theater in Alumni Hall.
The show was originally conceived as a one-person show by playwright Heather Raffo, Unicorn Theatre Marketing Director Justin Shaw said. It paints a cross-section of life for its female characters, including a painter, a communist, doctors, exiles, wives and lovers, he said.
“This work delves into the many conflicting aspects of what it means to be a woman surviving on the front lives of a war zone,” Shaw said. “(This play) is a timely meditation on the ancient, the modern and the feminine in a country overshadowed by hostility.”
Unlike earlier productions in places like London, New York and Los Angeles, director Cynthia Levin was given permission by Raffo to cast three actresses for the nine roles. The region’s debut run for the show was a month of performances earlier this year on the Unicorn Theatre’s Jerome Stage in its Main Street home.
“Each actress ably exploits the play’s enlightening and poignant moments,” theater reviewer Russ Simmons wrote in a Feb. 21 piece for the West County Sun. “(It) affords us a thoughtful insider’s look at a side of Iraq that we don’t get from the nightly news: the human side.”
The play encompasses all of human experience, including the lighter side, Levin said, but people shouldn’t avoid the show for fear that it’s simply an anti-war rant.
“It’s fun, it’s moving, it’s all those things,” Levin said. “It’s not a polemic.”
Raffo, whose father is Iraqi, spent years interviewing women in that country and turning their words into a play, Levin said. There’s no avoiding the consequences of war, she said.
“Any time you dissect a war that has been going on so long, you can’t help but try to stop it,” Levin said.
The production’s move to Park University is part of a cooperative agreement between the theater troupe and the school. A couple of years ago, to save the university’s theater program, the two institutions agreed to let students intern with the theater; in turn, the professional company puts on one play a year at the Parkville campus.
“Here is a unique opportunity for students to enroll at Park and intern at a professional theater,” Levin said. “They get hands on experience.”
Levin knew that she wanted to send “Nine Parts of Desire” to Park University for this year’s travelling show. Students are being used for technical and backstage help.
“This was one of my very favorite, special shows of the season,” Levin said.
“Nine Parts of Desire”
- What: a Heather Raffo play about the lives of nine Iraqi women, produced by the Unicorn Theatre and directed by Cynthia Levin
- When: 8 p.m. today and Friday, March 28; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, March 29; 2 p.m. Sunday, March 30
- Where: Jenkin and Barbara David Theater, Alumni Hall, Park University, 8700 N.W. River Park Drive, Parkville
- Cost: $5 students; $10 Park University faculty and staff; $15 general admission. Tickets can be purchased ahead by visiting www.park.edu/9partsdesire.
Staff writer Ray Weikal can be reached at 389-6637 or rayweikal@npgco.com.
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The play “Nine Parts of Desire” will be performed today to Sunday, March 30, at Park University’s Jenkin and Barbara David Theater in Alumni Hall.
The show was originally conceived as a one-person show by playwright Heather Raffo, Unicorn Theatre Marketing Director Justin Shaw said. It paints a cross-section of life for its female characters, including a painter, a communist, doctors, exiles, wives and lovers, he said.
“This work delves into the many conflicting aspects of what it means to be a woman surviving on the front lives of a war zone,” Shaw said. “(This play) is a timely meditation on the ancient, the modern and the feminine in a country overshadowed by hostility.”
Unlike earlier productions in places like London, New York and Los Angeles, director Cynthia Levin was given permission by Raffo to cast three actresses for the nine roles. The region’s debut run for the show was a month of performances earlier this year on the Unicorn Theatre’s Jerome Stage in its Main Street home.
“Each actress ably exploits the play’s enlightening and poignant moments,” theater reviewer Russ Simmons wrote in a Feb. 21 piece for the West County Sun. “(It) affords us a thoughtful insider’s look at a side of Iraq that we don’t get from the nightly news: the human side.”
The play encompasses all of human experience, including the lighter side, Levin said, but people shouldn’t avoid the show for fear that it’s simply an anti-war rant.
“It’s fun, it’s moving, it’s all those things,” Levin said. “It’s not a polemic.”
Raffo, whose father is Iraqi, spent years interviewing women in that country and turning their words into a play, Levin said. There’s no avoiding the consequences of war, she said.
“Any time you dissect a war that has been going on so long, you can’t help but try to stop it,” Levin said.
The production’s move to Park University is part of a cooperative agreement between the theater troupe and the school. A couple of years ago, to save the university’s theater program, the two institutions agreed to let students intern with the theater; in turn, the professional company puts on one play a year at the Parkville campus.
“Here is a unique opportunity for students to enroll at Park and intern at a professional theater,” Levin said. “They get hands on experience.”
Levin knew that she wanted to send “Nine Parts of Desire” to Park University for this year’s travelling show. Students are being used for technical and backstage help.
“This was one of my very favorite, special shows of the season,” Levin said.
“Nine Parts of Desire”
- What: a Heather Raffo play about the lives of nine Iraqi women, produced by the Unicorn Theatre and directed by Cynthia Levin
- When: 8 p.m. today and Friday, March 28; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, March 29; 2 p.m. Sunday, March 30
- Where: Jenkin and Barbara David Theater, Alumni Hall, Park University, 8700 N.W. River Park Drive, Parkville
- Cost: $5 students; $10 Park University faculty and staff; $15 general admission. Tickets can be purchased ahead by visiting www.park.edu/9partsdesire.
Staff writer Ray Weikal can be reached at 389-6637 or rayweikal@npgco.com.