"9 Parts of Desire": Magic of play lies in characters, set

Last semester, I wrote a preview for the play "9 Parts of Desire," which opened on Feb. 6. Written by Heather Raffo and directed by Alysha Reller, it showcases the lives of nine Iraqi women spanning through the Gulf War to the Iraqi War.

Ever since my interviews with the director and cast of the play, I've been excited to see this performance for myself. Trust me, it did not disappoint.

I will admit, I was expecting the stage to be a little bit bigger, but not every play has to be on a huge stage. The stage was much bigger than I've seen from previous performances.

There wasn't much on the set as far as setting. I observed three small chairs, one small table and a painting on an easel. I wondered how they were going to pull off and utilize these props on the stage.

The play opened with a song, sung by one of the characters from audience level. It caught me off guard because I'm so used to seeing the performers pop up on the stage. This drew me in even more to the play and the characters because I had never seen anything like it before.
 

Throughout the play, you meet and hear each of the characters deep and compelling stories about their lives.
 

The character that I found myself wanting to hear more from was Layal the painter, played by Daigi-Ann Thompson. Out of all the characters, she was my favorite. I loved her character's infectious personality. It left you wanting to hear more of her story.
 

I also enjoyed the role of the American, played by Sam Roche. Her character struggled with her identity as an American of Iraqi descent, which I related to a lot while thinking about these problems. I liked how there was an American perspective in the play - it wasn't one sided.
 

The character that I had trouble getting into was the uncle. Due to the fact that he didn't really have a storyline like the nine women did, I didn't think his presence was necessary to the play. It would have been nice if he had his own story that correlated to the plot.
 

What I thought was unique about the play was the use of the screen projector. While I was waiting, there were pictures of various women on the screen as the background music was playing. The music choice fit the theme and mood. It had a calming, but mysterious tone to it that I enjoyed.
 

The projector was also used during the performance, which I thought was an excellent way of using the screen. There was a part in the play where the uncle of the American girl was shown making a phone call to her. The actor playing the uncle was on the screen instead of onstage. It was something different, and it worked out in this case.
 

On the other hand, I did have a gripe about the use of the projector in the play. Although it was helpful in some parts of the performance and showed realistic pictures to form a backdrop, it didn't really help that much. I was more drawn to the actors performing on stage and didn't really pay attention to it at times.
 

Speaking of the actors, they did an amazing job. You could tell that they were serious and focused on embodying their character and emotions. For some reason, though, it never crossed my mind that the actors would be speaking in an accent. The accents were believable and well executed.
 

Each of the characters were connected to each other in some way. As one finished their monologue, the stage would black out and go to the next character's monologue. It was interesting to see how some of the characters reacted to what the others were saying in their parts, which made them seem more connected even if they were in different periods of time.
 

I found myself relating to each story in some way.
 

Ever since September 11, views of Iraqis and Iraqi-Americans have changed. We have deemed the majority of these people dangerous and enclosed them in one box and stereotype - terrorists. As much as we want to buy into the idea that innocent people are dangerous, as well as those in terrorist organizations, we have to remember that they are not.
 

The women in the performance are not any different from us. These people in general are no different from us. They experience the same feelings, emotions and pain that we all do. As Americans, we sometimes fail to open our eyes and realize that.

This performance showed me that everyone's stories and experiences intertwine, regardless of skin color, religion or orientation.
We are human and we are no different from each other.
 

This is the magic of the play.
 

"9 Parts of Desire" will be performed at 8 p.m. tonight, Thursday and Friday at the Burchfield-Penney Art Center. The show runs about two hours.

Tyeisha Prior can be reached at prior.record@live.com.