Symposium on Women in Islam @ Wilma Theater February 5, 2006

The Wilma Theater will host a symposium on Sunday, February 5th at 3:30pm in conjunction with Heather Raffo?s Nine Parts of Desire, which runs February 1st through March 12th. The symposium will provide a rare opportunity to explore some of the issues and diverse outlooks the play voices with a group of Islamic women who will discuss different views regarding the veil, their religion and outside perceptions of their culture, as well as share aspects of reality behind the stereotypes. Limited free seating is available. Call 215-546-7824 to RSVP.

The panelists are:
? Carolyn Baugh, PhD candidate in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at the University of Pennsylvania, specialist in Gender and Islamic Law
? Manar Darwish, lecturer on Women in Islam and Islamic Studies, St. Joseph?s University
? Leila C. Kubba, Iraqi-born artist and director of Iraqi Cultural Society, Washington, DC
? Moderated by: Hayat Alvi-Aziz, Program Director of International Studies, Arcadia University

Co-Sponsored by: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania's Middle East Center World Affairs Council

ABOUT THE PLAY: In this stunning and compelling mosaic of the voices of ordinary Iraqi women, playwright Heather Raffo brings to life personal stories from nine women of different ages, backgrounds and outlooks, all united by one common theme; their strength. Among them are a free-spirited artist who paints nudes and is curator of Saddam Hussein?s art center, a political exile in London, a New Yorker of Iraqi descent who is glued to the TV news, a young girl who dances to American music and is enamored by all things Western, a beleaguered doctor, and a Bedouin woman in search of love. Beyond politics, veils and war, this daring one-woman theatrical tour de force celebrates the vitality, endurance and diversity of the women of Iraq whose stories are not often told on TV or in the newspapers.

A critically acclaimed Off-Broadway hit which ran for nine sold-out months, Heather Raffo?s Nine Parts of Desire was hailed as ?an example of how art can remake the world? by The New Yorker, earning nominations for the 2005 Lucille Lortel Award and Outer Critics Circle Award. Heather Raffo?s Nine Parts of Desire begins previews February 1st, opens on February 8th and closes on March 12th, 2006. Tickets are $10 to $49 and are available at the Wilma Theater Box Office (265 South Broad Street), online at www.wilmatheater.org or by phone at 215-546-7824.