"The Unbelievers" at SummerWorks
About
Northern Iraq: August of 2015. It is one year since ISIS massacred the Yazidi people in Sinjar and began sex-trafficking Yazidi women. The Unbelievers follows Sanaa, a Yazidi woman and Orli, a conflict journalist, after their capture by ISIS. Two women are alone on opposite sides of a crisis; together they must find a way to endure.
The Unbelievers features a power-house cast comprised of Shadi Shahkhalili (To Our Bright White Hearts/Cannes) and Sarah Baskin (Blindspot/NBC). The show is directed by Marina McClure (MFA Directing/CalArts) ) designed by indie-favourite Anahita Dehbonehie (Featured in Jon Kaplan’s Top Ten Theatre Artists of 2015/NOW Magazine) and written by emerging playwright and producer Hannah Rittner (2015 Winner of the Dramatic Writing Chair’s Award in Excellence/Tisch School of the Arts).
Credits
Lace Productions
Directed by Marina McClure; Performed by Sarah Baskin and Shadi Shahkhalili; Written by Hannah Rittner; Designed by Anahita Dehbonehie; Produced by Hannah Rittner, Joanne Williams and Rachel Stephenson Sheff; Outreach & Communications by Sedina Fiati; Associate Produced by Kierston Drier.
Curator's Note
"The Unbelievers follows a Yazidi refugee and a conflict journalist after their capture by ISIS. Playwright Hannah Rittner says, 'We need to rethink our relationship to ISIS by focusing on the stories of the women who have been
violated and enslaved during this ongoing conflict'." - Tara Beagan