Cape May Stage Presents On the Couch with Nora Armani 9/17

Cape May Stage, South Jersey's premier Equity theatre, is pleased to present an unforgettable evening with one of the world's most intriguing international vagabonds! Told through song and dance, the self-penned On the Couch with Nora Armani is a one-woman piece about identity, belonging, multiple cultural provenances and the coincidences that complete our journey of the quixotic. On the Couch with Nora Armani will play Friday, September 17 at 8 pm at the Robert Shackleton Playhouse at the corner of Bank and Lafayette Streets in downtown Cape May.

Tired of being told by casting directors that she's either "too ethnic" or "not ethnic enough", the multi-talented Nora Armani took it upon herself to create her own one-woman show. Speaking to us from her couch, the unexpected appearance of a long-lost love causes her to deviate from the planned script and embark, instead, on an intensely personal look into her own past and hybrid culture. Oscillating between humor and nostalgia - with moments of poignancy liberally interspersed - Armani recounts her intriguing personal story: her growing up in Nasser's post-revolution Egypt, memories of the Bosporus and Istanbul, her travels to the Scottish Highlands, Alexandria and its port, and Hollywood and its follies. The story is sprinkled with stories passed from generation to generation, about her grandparents' expulsion from Armenia by the Turks and pre-1915 Anatolian summers. At the center of this narrative is a woman painfully struggling to discern her place among the memories of her ancestry, her culture, and her troubled past.

"When I first wrote and performed On the Couch with Nora Armani, I was very worried that people might not care to listen to the story of a person that is not well known to them," says Armani. "However, touring with it in many countries and performing it in three different languages, namely its English, French and Armenian versions, I became more and more convinced each time, that the message my story delivers is more universal than I thought, judging from the reactions of audiences in these places. This made me want to go on and continue to tell this story."

Armani has performed the play on tour in Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, Montreal, New York (Segal Theatre, CUNY, The Workshop Theatre) and Boston with a limited run in London, at the New End Theatre directed by François Kergourlay. She performed the French version Sur le divan avec Nora Armani as a première preview at Salle Cortot in Paris, and later throughout France, including performances for the Ambassadors of Armenia (now the Minister of Foreign Affairs) and Jordan. Other performances of the English version were presented at the October Gallery in London, the Poetry Café in Covent Garden, the London School of Economics and Goodenough College. The French version of the play was broadcast live on Aligre FM Radio in Paris in July 2003. July 2004 marked the play's New York debut, and in 2005 it was "back by popular demand" at the Workshop Theatre in Manhattan as part of the Midtown InterNational Theatre Festival.

Nora Armani
Born in Egypt of Armenian parents, educated in England and, after years spent in the United States, currently dividing her time between London and Paris, Nora Armani is the epitome of the word "transnational". Her repertory includes Shakespeare, Shaw, Beckett, Hammerstein and Guitry while her own creations Sojourn at Ararat, Nannto, Nannto and On the Couch with Nora Armani have earned her extensive international tours and many accolades on four continents in over twenty cities. Invited to Armenia to star in the films Deadline in Seven Days, Last Station and Labyrinth, she is a cultural ambassador, promoting Armenian Cinema worldwide. In Cairo she has appeared as Anna in the King and I on stage and on television. In London she has appeared as Volumnia in Mehmet Ergen's production of Plebeians Rehearse the Uprising by Günter Grass at the Arcola Theatre, Gerald Papasian's production of Shaw's Arms and the Man at the Young Vic Theatre, while in Paris her stage credits include Fatima Gallère's La Fête Virile at the Cartoucherie - Epée de Bois, as well as Couples du Monde and Nannto, Nannto. Her French film credits include Catherine Corsini's La Nouvelle Eve, Laurent Dussaux's Le Coeur à L'ouvrage, Daniele Stro's L'Ame Soeur in the title role and recently, Malik Chibane's Residence Mozart with Anémone. On the Couch with Nora Armani was broadcast on French Radio Aligre FM last July, as recorded live during a performance in Paris. Ms. Armani has written another radio play for the same program to be recorded soon. Recent productions include Evocations of Armenia with cello and spoken word with David Bakamjian at the Metropolitan Museum of New York, in Armenia, and at the New York Society Library; and Sojourn at Ararat played at The Public Theatre in January with Gerald Papasian and followed by an extensive tour. Armani recently produced the French language production of The Lady of the Camelias in New York. Later this month, she will be going to Los Angeles to play an FBI agent in an independent production. Awards include Best Actress twice in Armenia (Stage and Screen) and two Drama-Logue awards in Los Angeles. www.noraarmani.com.
Part of Cape May Stage's acclaimed Second Stage Series, On the Couch with Nora Armani will perform Friday, September 17 at 8pm at the Robert Shackleton Playhouse at the corner of Bank & Lafayette Streets in downtown Cape May. Tickets are $35 for adults, $30 for seniors, and $12.50 for students. Call (609) 884-1341 for reservations and information or visit the theatre's website, www.capemaystage.com.

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