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by Heather Raffo
First Show on The Jerome
Stage
February 15-March 2, 2008
(Previews February 13 & 14)
Directed by
Cynthia Levin
Featuring
Jennifer Aguilar, Andi Meyer and Cheryl Weaver
Unicorn Goes to the Northland!
See Heather
Raffo's 9 Parts of Desire at Park University
March 27 & 28 8pm,
March 29 2 pm and 8pm, March 30 2pm
Call 816-584-6451
for more information or on the web at
http://www.park.edu/9partsdesire/
A portrait of the
extraordinary (and ordinary) lives of a cross-section of
Iraqi women: a sexy painter, a radical Communist, doctors,
exiles, wives and lovers. This work delves into the many
conflicting aspects of what it means to be a woman surviving
on the front lines of a war zone. A timely meditation on the
ancient, the modern and the feminine in a country
overshadowed by hostility.
Left to
Right: Cheryl Weaver, Jennifer Aguilar and Andi
Meyer. Photos by Cynthia Levin
The Reviews are in...
InfoZine --Posted on
Thur., Feb. 28, 2008
9 Parts of Desire on Stage at the Unicorn Theatre, Review
(Click
for Story)
By
Jeannine Chatterton-Papineau
Pitch--Posted on Sat. March 1, 2008
The Cast Is All Women, But 'Desire' is Universal
(Click
for full story)
By
Paul Donovan
Kansas City Star--Posted on Mon. Feb. 18, 2008
(as appeared in print)
‘9 Parts of Desire’ create 1 satisfying theater
experience
(May
require registration)
By ROBERT TRUSSELL
Pitch--Posted on Thurs. Feb. 21, 2008
The Unicorn’s new Jerome Stage is the perfect place
to get intimate with women who live a world away
(Click
for full story)
By ALAN SCHERSTUHL
Sun Publications--Posted on Thurs. Feb. 21, 2008
9 PARTS OF DESIRE
(Click
for full story)
By RUSS SIMMONS
Kansas City Star--Posted on Fri. Feb. 15, 2008
(as appeared on web)
Three actresses enhance dramatic power of ‘9 Parts of
Desire’
(May
require registration)
By ROBERT TRUSSELL
Other Press...
Kansas City Star--Posted on Sat. March 1, 2008
Unicorn show gives KC actress Jennifer Aguilar the
chance to shine
(May
require registration)
By ROBERT TRUSSELL
KCUR--Posted on
Thur. Feb 28, 2008
Unicorn Theatre Opens New Jerome Stage (Click
to hear story)
The Unicorn Theatre
celebrates its 34th season this year and specializes
in presenting shows new to Kansas City audiences and
developing original work. The company recently
opened a second performance space called the Jerome
Stage.
by Laura Spencer
Kansas City Star--Posted on Sat. Feb. 16, 2008
New Jerome Stage opens up possibilities and opportunities
for the Unicorn and its patrons
(May
require registration)
By ROBERT TRUSSELL
KC Community News --Posted on
Thur. Feb. 14, 2008
'Desire' offers glimpse into lives of Iraqi women
(May
require registration)
By KELLI BAMFORTH
Kansas City Star--Posted on Sat. Feb. 9, 2008
‘9 Parts of Desire’ looks at horror and war through the eyes
of Iraqi women
(May
require registration)
By ROBERT TRUSSELL
InfoZine --Posted on
Sat., Feb. 9, 2008
Unicorn's Jerome Stage Opens with Heather Raffo's 9 Parts of
Desire
(Click
for Story)
Kansas City Star--Posted on
Sat., Dec. 8, 2007
Unicorn Theatre will begin new year with ‘House With No
Walls,’ ‘9 Parts of Desire’
(May
require registration)
By ROBERT TRUSSELL
Heather Raffo
is the recipient of a Susan Smith Blackburn Prize Special
Commendation and the Marian Seldes-Garson Kanin Fellowship
for 9 Parts of Desire. Most recently she has received
a 2005 Lucille Lortel award for Best Solo show as well as an
Outer Critics Circle Nomination and a Drama League
nomination 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. 9
Parts of Desire was then developed and performed as a
reading at The Public Theatre as part of their New Work Now
festival in Spring 2004. Its New York premiere took place
in the fall of 2004 at the Manhattan Ensemble Theater, where
the show ran for nine sold out months. In 2005 the play
began touring the U.S. at the Geffen Playhouse in Los
Angeles. Following are new productions at Berkeley Rep,
Seattle Rep, The Wilma Theatre and Arena Stage in D.C. as
well as international productions. Heather received her BA
from the University of Michigan, her MFA from the University
of San Diego and studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic
Art, London. Originally from Michigan, Heather divides her
time between New York and Los Angeles. Her father is from
Iraq and her mother is American.
Cynthia Levin (Director)
is in her 29th season with the Unicorn
Theatre as Producing Artistic Director where she has
served as a director, actor, designer or producer for
over 220 productions. In addition to managing the
Unicorn, she stays busy tending her 100 year old
Victorian home (and gardens), 2 dramatic dogs and one
very humorous cat. Most recently she directed
rightnextto me, Nickel and Dimed, The Great American
Trailer Park Musical, tick, tick...BOOM!, Frozen, I Am
My Own Wife, Bug, The Exonerated, Convenience, Take Me
Out, BatBoy: The Musical and the world premieres of
How His Bride Came to Abraham, Light:Damage, Mercy
Killing, Innocent Thoughts and Jack and Jill.
At the Coterie Theatre she has directed
Frankenstein, Gatherings in Graveyards (I and II),
Valley Song and To Kill A Mockingbird and
will be directing their opening show next season, And
Then They Came For Me. Cynthia is a graduate of
Park University where she was additionally awarded an
Honorary Doctorate in 2002. She is also a founding board
member of the National New Play Network, an organization
dedicated to the development and production of new
works. She is the 2006 recipient of the Pinnacle Award
for Excellence in the Arts from the Johnson County
Library Foundation and the 2007 recipient of the Human
Rights Campaign Equality Award. Next up Cynthia will be
directing a staged reading of a world premiere at the
Kennedy Center New Play Workshop this summer.
 Cheryl
Weaver (Amal/Iraqi
Girl/The American)
is celebrating her perfect 10th
production with Unicorn Theatre. A fortuitous continuation
and an auspicious beginning on the new Jerome Stage! She
has been tremendously fortunate here to bring to life such
roles as Jill in Jack and Jill, Alexa in As Bees
in Honey Drown, Terry in Sideman, Anna in
Closer, Sarah in Spinning into Butter, Mary in
Memory of Water, plus the sisters of Mineola Twins,
Agnetha in Frozen, and several of the working poor in
Nickel and Dimed The women at the Unicorn are always
strong. Other area theaters include KC Rep (the highly
acclaimed Trip to Bountiful, Living Out, The Voysey
Inheritance, New Theatre, American Heartland Theatre,
Heart of America Shakespeare Festival and the Coterie.
Regionally, Cheryl has performed all over the country,
including Dallas, Houston, Detroit and San Francisco, where
she performed at the American Conservatory Theatre in a new
adaptation of The Voysey Inheritance. She lives in
Lawrence (Go Jayhawks!) with her husband, Doug, a director
and teacher at Bishop Seabury Academy. Ian, her son, is a
sophomore at KU. Next for Cheryl is the revival production
of Rumors, at the New Theatre. Peace to us all.
Jennifer Aguilar (Layal/The Doctor/Nanna)
is delighted to be performing on The Jerome Stage. Past
Unicorn credits include Nickel and Dimed; The
Laramie Project; and Mud, River, Stone.
She has worked with the Coterie Theatre as an actor in their
Dramatic AIDS Education Project, Young Playwright’s Festival
and in the play Black Butterfly, Piņata Girl and Other
Super Heroes. She has also performed at The New Theatre
in Marvin and Mel. Jennifer is a native Houstonian
and graduate of The University of Houston. She currently
resides in Overland Park with her husband, Steve and lovely
daughters, Sofia 8, Gabriela 3, and Tatiana 3.
Andi Meyer (Mullaya/Huda/Umm Ghada)
is pleased to return for the opening of The Jerome Stage.
She last appeared at the Unicorn in Bright Ideas.
Other Unicorn productions include In the Blood, The
Waiting Room, and Suburbia. She has been a
professional actress for 18 years and holds a BA in
theatre. Andi spent last winter performing in sunny Florida
and has performed locally at the New Theatre Restaurant,
with Loretta Switt and Gary Sandy, and Coterie Theatre. A
cast member of the multiple award-winning radio comedy
troupe Right Between the Ears, she can be heard on KPR and
Sirius Satellite radio. Andi is a strong proponent for arts
education and has taught a comprehensive Shakespeare
curriculum, acting, scene study, and creative dramatics
classes for such places as Accessible Arts, The Heart of
America Shakespeare Festival, The Kansas City Rep, The
Coterie, as well as at KCYA to a wide variety of ages and
cultural backgrounds.
Buy
Heather Raffo's 9
Parts of Desire
tickets online NOW!
Call 816-531-PLAY x 10
Box Office Hours:
Monday-Friday 10-5pm
Saturday 12-4pm
(During the run of the show)
Unicorn Theatre offers $5.00 off for
senior citizens and full-time students (with valid
I.D.). Group rates are available, and students with
valid I.D. can purchase Rush Tickets for $7.00 five
minutes before curtain (based on availability)
SPECIAL
THANKS
to those who generously
donated their time, talents and services to this
production:
Financial assistance has been provided by
Missouri Arts Council, a state
agency.
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