The Middle East, In Pieces: 6 short pieces on the crisis in Middle East at Cherry Lane Theatre

Back House Productions and Cherry Lane Theatre presents a reading of 6 short pieces - The Middle East, In Pieces, at the Cherry Lane Theatre on the 17 & 18 Aug 2006.

Participating writers include Kia Corthron, Israel Horovitz, Anne Nelson, Heather Raffo, Betty Shamieh and Beau Willimon. The six short plays are billed as a response to the current developments in the Middle East.

Three of the plays were written specifically for the event. Corthron's 'Power Lunch', takes place in a quaint restaurant, imagines a pleasant chat between two women: Condie and Hillary. Horovitz's 'Beirut Rocks' is about American students stranded in a Beirut hotel awaiting evacuation and Beau Willimon's 'Dog River' takes the form of email exchanges between an Arab-American in Lebanon and his girlfriend back in the United States.

The reading will also include excerpts from two new plays: Nelson's 'Petra', about two women - an American and a Saudi�who meet on a bus so south of Amman, and Shamieh's 'The Black Eyed' as well as an excerpt from Raffo's one-woman play '9 Parts of Desire.'

Directed by Thomas Caruso, The Middle East, In Pieces features a cast of 10 actors, which will include Mozhan Marnu and Anthony Veneziale.