Lameece Issaq, seen Off-Broadway in Stuff Happens, will take on the title role in the West Coast premiere of Heather Raffo's Noura at the Old Globe in San Diego. Set in New York City, Noura tells the story of an Iraqi immigrant family's Christmas dinner disturbed by the arrival of a visitor who stirs up long-buried memories.
Directed by Johanna McKeon (I Have Loved Strangers), Noura will begin performances September 20 for a run scheduled through October 20.
Rounding out the company in San Diego will be Giovanni Cozic as Yazen/Alex (Globe’s Clint Black’s Looking for Christmas), Mattico David as Tareq/Tim (Noura at Playwrights Horizons and Shakespeare Theatre Company), Isra Elsalihie as Maryam (Anne Frank in the Gaza Strip), and Fajer Kaisi as Rafa’a (Off Broadway’s Tennis in Nablus).
Noura received its world premiere in 2017 at the Women’s Voices Theater Festival presented in association with Shakespeare Theatre Company. The play was produced Off-Broadway by Playwrights Horizons (in a co-production with Shakespeare Theatre Company), starring the playwright in the title role.
Raffo (Nine Parts of Desire) was inspired to write the play—the title is a nod to Ibsen’s A Doll’s House—after leading theatre workshops with Middle Eastern women in New York and seeing the feminist lens through which they responded to Ibsen's play and their own stories of leaving home. For Raffo, Noura is the story of a woman’s restless mind pushing against the confines of her home life and her past.
The creative team at the Old Globe is made up of scenic designer Andromache Chalfant, costume designer Dina El-Aziz, lighting designer Driscoll Otto, sound designer Melanie Chen Cole, and cultural consultant Noora Hammi. Casting is by Caparelliotis Casting, and Jess Slocum is production stage manager.
