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Published on 9/4/08
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Heather Raffo, whose dynamic one-woman show 9 Parts of Desire has been globally championed, makes a two-week stop in Chicago, courtesy of Next Theatre and the MCA.
Time Out Chicago: Are you cynical about media coverage of Iraq at the moment?
Heather Raffo: It’s too big a wash to say [American] news is crap. Anne Garrels is doing great reporting [for NPR]. My husband is a BBC radio reporter, and I still have 50 family members in Iraq.…But you have to remember that it’s dangerous for any Iraqi to be seen talking to a Western journalist. Life is too hard right now. There’s too much at stake. So that skews things. Practical survival is of the utmost.
TOC: Are you able to stay in touch with your family there via the Internet?
Heather Raffo: Everybody’s landlines went out with the invasion, and they still haven’t gotten them back.
TOC: Does it bother you that so many people have learned about the war via Oprah?
Heather Raffo: Oprah has a mission, which is basically, “Get in there, look at the hard stuff and find the glow at the end.” But she’s been very responsible in the people she’s interviewed. She’s had Zainab Salbi, who runs womenforwomen.org, on the show. It’s a brilliant site that has very little overhead because they use women on the ground all over the world to do the reporting.
TOC: Which candidate do you favor in ’08?
Heather Raffo: Obama brings a global view that’s thrilling to me. I relate to him, in that he bridges two different parts of the world in his DNA. I love his ability to articulate his DNA.
9 Parts of Desire opens May 5, 2008.
