Heather Raffo

Heather Raffo (born in Michigan, United States) is a Lucille Lortel Award-winning Iraqi-American playwright and actress, best known for her leading role in the one-woman play 9 Parts of Desire.

Biography

Early life Her father is Iraqi, born in Mosul but lived in Baghdad. Heather is Chaldean on her father's side and Roman Catholic on her mother's side. but lived in New York City for thirty years. and shared what she has learned from what John Lahr in The New Yorker called "an example of how art can remake the world." In May 2013, 9 Parts of Desire was performed for the first time in Iraq by students from The American University of Iraq – Sulaimani, with Heather in the audience.

Heather has also been approached by International press about doing stories on her show, but she refused as she did not want to draw attention to her family in Iraq, as it could lead to dangerous circumstances.

Heather is also one of the six participating writers for the play The Middle East, In Pieces, a play which displays the current developments in the Middle East and addresses the conflicts in Lebanon, Israel and Iraq.

Her other acting credits include, playing Sarah Woodruff in the world premiere of The French Lieutenant's Woman performed at the Fulton Opera House. The off-Broadway, Over the River and Through the Woods, the off Broadway/National Tour of Macbeth where she played Lady Macbeth, The Merry Wives of Windsor as Mistress Page and The Rivals all with The Acting Company. Regionally in theatre productions of the following, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, As You Like It, Macbeth, and The Comedy of Errors all with The Old Globe Theatre in San Diego.

She has performed her plays at Off Broadway in New York, Off West-End in London, at the Kennedy Center, at the U.S.-Islamic World Forum and at dozens of large performance venues nationally as well as hundreds of universities across the country. They have been performed in nearly every regional theater market in the United States. (Just some of the most famous are: Playwrights Horizons in New York, Arena Stage, Shakespeare Theater, Kennedy Center, The Guthrie, Seattle Re, Berkley Rep, The Old Globe). 9 Parts of Desire was the 5th most produced play across the country according to American Theater Magazine in one season. The play was made to raise awareness of the ongoing genocide in Darfur and help encourage activism.

She wrote the libretto for Tobin Stokes' opera Fallujah, based on the Second Battle of Fallujah.

Her play Noura opened at Playwrights Horizons on December 10, 2018.

She also wrote Tomorrow Will Be Sunday: A New Theatrical Platform. She was interviewed by Pauline Homsi Vinson and explained her plays.

Filmography Vino Veritas 9 Parts of Desire In Darfur The Middle East, In Pieces The Surrogate

Awards Susan Smith Blackburn Prize Special Commendation Marian Seldes-Garson Kanin Fellowship for 9 Parts of Desire. Lucille Lortel Award (2005) for Outstanding Solo Show Helen Hayes Award Weissberger Award

Nominations Outer Critics Circle Nomination Drama League nomination for Outstanding Performance