Raffo

That said, "Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo" is still mediocre, especially by comparison with "Nine Parts of Desire," the 2003 one-woman play in which the Iraqi-American actor-playwright Heather Raffo portrayed nine real-life characters whose wide-ranging points of view added up to a devastatingly compelling group portrait of life in Iraq.

From the Realm of Moral Equivalence Terry Teachout 2011

Part of what made "Nine Parts of Desire" so good was that Ms. Raffo never flashed the applause sign: "I want American audiences to walk out a little confused, not able to say, 'Oh, I get it.'"

From the Realm of Moral Equivalence Terry Teachout 2011

In posters painted by Raffo and distributed throughout Naples, the Mona Lisa appears against a new backdrop – the Bay of Naples surrounded by trash.

2008 February 29 archive at eternallycool.net 2008

In posters painted by Raffo and distributed throughout Naples, the Mona Lisa appears against a new backdrop – the Bay of Naples surrounded by trash.

Mona Lisa Turns Trashy at eternallycool.net 2008

In posters painted by Raffo and distributed throughout Naples, the Mona Lisa appears against a new backdrop – the Bay of Naples surrounded by trash.

2008 February archive at eternallycool.net 2008

Based on research and dozens of interviews conducted on four continents over eleven years Raffo portrays nine women in the course of the evening, the play brings news of the psychic life of the brutalized and allows us to think about the unthinkable.

Nine Parts of Desire: Iraqi Women on the American stage 2006

Raffo, an American whose father is an expatriate Iraqi, exists in that liminal zone between two cultures—a culture that sees itself in charge of the narrative of history and one that has seen its history wiped out.

Dove's Eye View: 2006

As a performer, Raffo is deft and vivacious; her writing, like her playing, is marked by wit and by a scrupulous attention to the details of character.

Dove's Eye View: 2006

As a performer, Raffo is deft and vivacious; her writing, like her playing, is marked by wit and by a scrupulous attention to the details of character.

Nine Parts of Desire: Iraqi Women on the American stage 2006

Raffo, an American whose father is an expatriate Iraqi, exists in that liminal zone between two cultures—a culture that sees itself in charge of the narrative of history and one that has seen its history wiped out.

Nine Parts of Desire: Iraqi Women on the American stage 2006