Culture Connection Presents ROAR 12/4-12/13

Presented by Culture Connection Theater, ROAR is a story about family, pain, personal sacrifice and the need for emotional fulfillment. Directed by Elaine Molinaro, the play will be performed from December 4-13 at Where Eagles Dare Studios, located at 347 West 36th Street. Ms. Shamieh will be doing a talk-back after the performance on Sunday, December 7th.

"When do you stop living your life for someone else, even if they're family? At the same time, when do you stop thinking only of yourself and start putting other people's needs ahead of your own?" These are the questions asked in Betty Shamieh's 2004 drama, ROAR explain press notes.

A generational story about the importance of heritage, family ties and personal responsibility, ROAR features Maya Serhan as Karema, Al Nazemian as Ahmed, Billie Alexopoulos as Irene, Hend Ayoub as Hala and Omar Koury as Abe. Set design is by Alex Carney, lighting design by David Castaneda, costume design by Susan Ruddie, properties design by Karen Sweeney, stage management by Liz Richards, assistant direction by Sherri Eldin (who originated the role of Irene) and assistant production by Rob Gaines.  

Betty Shamieh's plays include The Black Eyed (New York Theatre Workshop, Theatre Fournos of Athens), Chocolate in Heat (New York International Fringe Festival), The Machine (Naked Angels), ROAR (The New Group), and Territories (The Magic Theatre). In 2009, her play Territories will have European premieres in translation at Het Zuidelijk Toneel (Holland) and a co-production of the Landes Theatre and European Union's Capital of Culture Festival (Austria). A graduate of Harvard College and the Yale School of Drama, she is a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts grant and is one of the youngest artists to be named a fellow at Harvard University's Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies.

Elaine Molinaro's work as a director ranges from multi-media creations that mix dance, words and film, to stagings of contemporary dramas. In the past two years she has restaged excerpts of works in the critically acclaimed Off-Stage, the West Village and the East Village Fragments produced by the Obie-Award winning Peculiar Works Project, with whom she has a 15-year association. In 2004 she founded Culture Connection Theater and produced Opera Buffoonia by French playwright Pascal Sagratella. She directed a workshop of Prometheus Bound for the Lincoln Center Director's Lab. Other directing credits included The Long Shot (Circle East Theater), As You Like It (Marist College), Black (by Joyce Carol Oates), The Gingham Dog, Stop Kiss, Orphans (Rutgers Theater Company) and A Midsummer Night's Dream (Voice and Vision Theater) as well the original works Facing Open Fields (HERE) and Be Silent Be Still (Peculiar Works Project).

With a mission to foster connection between people of different countries, Culture Connection Theater produces collaborations between artists of different cultures in order to break down barriers of racism, sexism and prejudice and to allow American audiences to experience other cultures, to shed light on their own culture and to engage, comment and ask questions about world events. The company most recently produced Opera Buffoonia by French playwright Pascal Sagratella as part of New York City's Play Outside Festival. For more information, go to www.cultureconnectiontheater.org.

Running from December 4th to December 13th, ROAR will be performed at Where Eagles Dare Studios, located at 347 West 36th Street (between 8th & 9th Avenues) on the 13th Floor. Show times are Thursdays-Saturdays at 8pm and Sunday, December 7th at 3pm. Tickets are $14.00. Reservations: 212-868-4444 or www.smarttix.com.  The press is invited to all performances.