The New York premiere of Heather Raffo’s drama Noura, directed by Joanna Settle, has found its complete cast at Playwrights Horizons. Set in New York, the play sees an Iraqi immigrant family's Christmas dinner disturbed by the arrival of a visitor who stirs up long-buried memories and decisions from the past.
Joining the previously announced Raffo, who will reprise her performance as Noura from the Women’s Voices Theater Festival production in D.C., will be Dahlia Azama (Veil'd, I Call My Brothers) as Maryam; Liam Campora (The Blacklist, Blue Bloods) as Yazen/Alex; Matthew David (Glamping, A Streetcar Named Desire, Boeing, Boeing) as Rafa’a; and Nabil Elouahabi (Oslo, A Tale of Two Cities) as Tareq/Tim.
Noura is a co-production with Shakespeare Theatre Company, with performances scheduled to run November 27–December 30 in the Mainstage Theater at Playwrights Horizons.
Raffo (Nine Parts of Desire) was inspired to write Noura—the title is a nod to Ibsen’s A Doll’s House—after leading theatre workshops with Middle Eastern women in New York and seeing the feminist lens through which they responded to Ibsen's play and their own stories of leaving home. For Raffo, Noura is the story of a woman’s restless mind pushing against the confines of her home life and her past.
The creative team includes Andrew Lieberman (scenic design), Tilly Grimes (costume design), Masha Tsimring (lighting design), Obadiah Eaves (sound design), and Laura Smith (production stage manager).
Noura received its world premiere in 2017 at the Women’s Voices Theater Festival presented in association with Shakespeare Theatre Company.
For more information visit PlaywrightsHorizons.org.