Culture Project hosts discussion of 'Betrayed' on 4/27

The Culture Project (Allan Buchman, Artistic Director) has announced that it will host a special post-show discussion, following the Sunday, April 27 performance of its critically acclaimed World Premiere production of George Packer's BETRAYED.  Following the 3:00 p.m. performance, Packer will be joined by Iraqi interpreter Ahmed Ali (one of the inspirations for the main character in Betrayed) for a conversation hosted by Larry Siems and PEN American Center.

 

Ahmed Ali worked as a journalist and translator for the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph from 2003 to 2006, when he was forced into hiding for his coverage of the political situation in Iraq and his sharp criticism of the insurgency. Following the kidnapping and presumed murder of his brother-in-law, Ali and his family fled Iraq to Syria, where he continued to work with a number of western journalists, including George Packer.  PEN's Larry Siems met Ali in Damascus in December 2006 and shortly thereafter initiated efforts to bring him and several other Iraqi writers, journalists, and translators living in Syria the United States.

 

PEN American Center is an association based in New York City of approximately 3,300 authors, editors, and translators committed to the advancement of literature, the protection of writers and freedom of expression, and the unimpeded flow of ideas and information.

 

Directed by Pippin Parker, BETRAYED marks Packer's playwriting debut.  It opened in February to rave reviews and has been extended through June 28, 2008.

 

In early 2007, George Packer published an article in The New Yorker about Iraqi interpreters who jeopardized their lives on behalf of the Americans in Iraq, with little or no U.S. protection or security.  The article drew national attention to the humanitarian crisis and moral scandal.  Betrayed, based on Mr. Packer's interviews in Baghdad, tells the story of three young Iraqis - two men and one woman - motivated to risk everything by America's promise of freedom.  Betrayed explores the complex relationships among the Iraqis themselves, and with their American supervisor, struggling to find purpose while a country collapses around them.

 

The cast of BETRAYED includes Aadya Bedi, Ramsey Faragallah, Sevan Greene, Christopher Kromer, Eric Troy Miller, Ramiz Monsef and Waleed F. Zuaiter.

 

The design team is comprised of Garin Marschall (Set and Lighting), Eric Shim (Sound) and Rabiah Troncelliti (Costumes).

 

George Packer is a staff writer for The New Yorker and the author, most recently, of The Assassins' Gate: America in Iraq, which won several awards and was named by The New York Times as one of the ten best books of 2005.  He has published two other works of non-fiction, The Village of Waiting (1988), a memoir about his years in the Peace Corps in West Africa and Blood of the Liberals (2000), a three-generational political history, which won the 2001 Robert F. Kennedy Book Award.  He has also published two novels, The Half Man (1991) and Central Square (1998) and is the editor of The Fight Is for Democracy: Winning the War of Ideas in America and the World (2003).  His articles, essays and reviews on foreign affairs, American politics and literature have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Harper's, Dissent and other publications.  He lives in Brooklyn.

 

Culture Project's mission is to bear witness to injustice, to stimulate challenging conversation about the most profound and urgent matters of our time and to convert interest, energy and engagement into a motivational demand for progressive change.  Culture Project has premiered celebrated shows including The Exonerated, Sarah Jones' Bridge & Tunnel, Guantanamo, AMAJUBA: Like Doves We Rise and Lawrence Wright's My Trip To Al-Qaeda and most recently presented Dan Hoyle's acclaimed solo show Tings Dey Happen.

 

Performances are Monday at 8 p.m., Wednesday – Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m.  Tickets are priced at $25 - $60 and are available by calling 212-352-3101 or visiting www.cultureproject.org.  Culture Project is located at 55 Mercer Street (at Broome) in the heart of SoHo.

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