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Gitana receives five Kevin Kline Awards nominations for Complacency of Silence: Darfur
click here for more information. If you would like to view the photo gallery from the production of Complacency of Silence: Darfur please click here.
My Heart is Always Shaking:
Afghan Refugee Women In St. Louis
Contact Gitana for tickets: 314-721-6556 or you may purchase tickets at the following locations: Sameems Afghan Restaurant at 3191 S. Grand Ave. and Screenz at 6680 Delmar Blvd. in University City. (Special ticket discount to patrons of Sameems and Cafe Natasha)
The play, “My Heart Is Always Shaking” is based on the interviews of two dozen Afghanistan women who escaped the Taliban and are trying to make a new life in St. Louis. The story, which follows the experiences of several women, is full of courage, humor, laughter, sorrow and resilience. It is a story that gives us a better understanding of the place where there is a war involving our young men and women. Here is a brief excerpt from extensive interviews conducted during this period. This particular interview provided the basis for the title of this play.
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“How many brothers and sisters do you have?” |
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“Should I count the ones who are dead?” |
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(The interviewer tells her yes and the woman counts them all.) |
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“How many children do you have?” |
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“Do I count the ones who are dead?” |
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(The interviewer who does not speak the woman’s language, stops writing and takes the woman’s hand.) |
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“Yes. The dead count. Count them all.” |
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The woman counts them all as she holds the interviewer’s hand. She is from Afghanistan and has survived the Taliban. The woman has left her homeland and escaped to the land of the “infidels” – America.
The interviewer notices that the woman’s hands are shaking and she asks if the woman is afraid. |
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