PEMART: A Stage for the Arts

PEMART: A Stage for the Arts
80 La Salle street #16H

New York, NY 10034
ph: (212) 253 2022
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The First Annual Noor Play Festival

BIOS

Al Nazemian* (festival founder/producer/actor) has
performed in the Arab-American Comedy Festival for the
last three years and on NY stages for the last eleven years,
including at Lincoln Center in Shirin Neshat’s production of
“Logic of the Birds.” On film, Al acted in “Teknolust” with
Tilda Swinton, Jeremy Davies and Karen Black, in the indie
hit “Love” (produced by Jim Stark), which screened at the
Tribeca and Venice film festivals, as well as in “Nola” with
Emmy Rossum & Mary McDonnell. Al has also appeared on
“Law & Order,” “Late Night w/ Conan O’Brien’ and “Saturday Night Live.”
Behind the scenes, Al produced Bob Sickinger’s musical “Platinum
Taps” & assistant directed Ray Yeate’s one-man show “The Tramway End,” directed by
Jim Jermanok. He graduated from Brown University with a degree in theatre and further
trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. www.alnazemian.com

Nora Armani* (festival co-producer & director) is an actor/
director/producer with an international list of theatre and film
credits. Her acclaimed award-winning self-penned stage
creations include: On the Couch with Nora Armani (now on DVD),
Sojourn At Ararat (with Gerald Papasian) (now on CD),
Snowflakes in April in addition to her other TV (Casualty-BBC,
Al Asdiquaa-EgyptTV), Film (The New Eve, Last Station-co-
directed, Haifa-co-produced and Labyrinth-for which she has
won the Best Actress award) and Stage (Beyond the Veil,
The Lover, La Fete Virile) credits. Her films have been seen at the Berlin, Rotterdam
and Cannes film festivals. She graduated with a B.A. in English
and Sociology from AUC, and an M.Sc. from LSE (Univ. of London). Her theatre training
includes: RADA, UCLA, Theatre du Soleil and Complicity Theatre. Nora is an Honorary
Actor Member of the National Theatre of Armenia. She is a published poet and playwright.
www.noraarmani.com

New York City: The first annual Noor Play Festival tool place at the Wings Theatre, New York, NY, from April
13-15, 2008.

Read interview in Curtain Rising with Producers Nazemian and Armani.

The Noor Festival of short plays tackles Middle East-related topics and offers a great theatre experience through original comedic and dramatic short plays. Its mission, as the name noor (light) suggests, is to enlighten savvy theatergoers about the Middle East while entertaining them.

“The unique criteria for a play to be selected (besides of course its artistic and literary merits) is that at least one of the characters in it should be from the Middle East”, says festival founder and co-producer Al Nazemian.

“However, playwrights, actors, directors, talent, technical crew- and above all, audiences- don’t have to be Middle Eastern at all!” adds festival co-producer Nora Armani.

Noor Festival themes embrace a wide geographical area including: Iran, Afghanistan, Israel, Pakistan and all the Arab countries.

Play submissions are accepted on an ongoing basis and those not selected for this year will be considered for subsequent years.

Talent and technical crew, volunteers, sponsors, donors, and all kinds of support are welcome. The producers would also love to hear from you with your ideas. Write to them at: noorfestival@gmail.com

Producers Al Nazemian and Nora Armani
at the Noor Play Festival Launch
March 30th, 2008

NY TIMES: Audience Review by Russell16

"The Rubbaiyat of Omar Khayyam", was the most original and cleverly written play of the festival. In it, a clay bowl full of wine talks to Persian poet Omar Khayyam and tempts him to drink her (the clay bowl is embodied by a female actress.) Sharon Freedman puts her expressive body and voice to great use as the clay bowl & Al Nazemian is superb as Omar Khayyam- conveying with his physicality the poet's struggle between resisting temptation/being ascetic and surrendering to the clay bowl and drinking the wine (which he ultimately does in a delicious climax in which the clay bowl has an orgasm as Omar touches it, rubs it, then drinks from it.)

Noor Play Festival List of Plays (seen in the same evening):

“The Sort of Happy Ending to the Sad Tale of Mr. Ali Ali: or the Lighter Side of Outsourcing Torture,” written by Craig Abernethy, and directed by Nora Armani, deals with the subject of outsourcing torture in a comedic, circus-like, bigger than life fashion.

Sarah Siadat, Melody Jones and Christina Orloff in "Ali Ali". Photo: James Beeler

“Saddam’s Crapper,” written by Kate McLeod, and directed by Patrick Mills, tells the story of an Iraqi woman, Saddam’s cleaning lady at the verge of losing her job, interviewed by a CNN-type reporter immediately following the fall of the Saddam regime.

“Stars,” written by Evan Guilford-Blake and directed by Patrick Mills, tells about the friendship and tenderness between two young men, a Persian boy enthralled by the poetry or Rumy and his African American friend.

“The Rubbaiyat of Omar Khayyam,” written by Scott McMorrow and directed by Tracy C. Francis deals with the philosophical and sensual world of Omar Khayyam and his relation with a clay bowl embodied by a woman…

“Train," written by Bethel Caram and Neil Potter and directed by Tracy C. Francis is about a half Arab half American couple on a train that sees Middle Eastern looking fellow passengers and become suspicious of them.

“Trigger Happy,” written by Zach Fischer and directed by Scott Casper is a comedic and human take on an Iraqi dentist caught in the crossfire between warring terrorists and American fighters.

“Khawaga Story” written and directed by Nora Armani based on the book “The Lost World of Egyptian Jews” by Liliane S. Dammond, is about Egyptian Jews in exile following the creation of the State of Israel and Nasser’s 1952 Revolution in Egypt.

Kathryn Kates in 'Khawaga Story'
Photo: Meredith Whitefield

NY TIMES: Audience Review by Rusell6

"Khawaga Story" tugs at the heartstrings rather than the belly. In it, an elderly Egyptian Jewish woman tells the story of her life in Egypt. Her line "I left Egypt many years ago, but Egypt never left me" resonates powerfully with the immigrant experience. Although this piece lacks action or physical movement, it is emotionally moving and proves that theatre can be as simple as one person telling his/her story to the audience. "Khawaga Story" is full of vivid imagery and sounds, thanks to the sensitivity of Nora Armani's direction and Kathryn Kates' acting.

Masterclasses available for all cities. Contact for details.

PEMART: A Stage for the Arts
80 La Salle street #16H

New York, NY 10034
ph: (212) 253 2022
alt: