"Waiting for Gilgamesh: Scenes from Iraq"

Waiting for Gilgamesh: Scenes from Iraq; presented by Fort Point Theatre Channel. Performances run June 26-28, Thurs.-Sat. at 8 pm, with a special 2 pm matinee on Sat. June 28. Tickets: $20, $15 for students, seniors. and veterans. Held at Arsenal Center for the Arts, Black Box Theatre, 321 Arsenal St., Watertown, MA 02472. For general information, www.fortpointtheatrechannel.org, 617.750.8900; for advance tickets, call 800.838.3006 or visit www.brownpapertickets.com/event/690754.

With Waiting for Gilgamesh: Scenes from Iraq, Fort Point Theatre Channel (FPTC) continues its collaboration with the Joiner Institute for the Study of War and Social Consequences and the Joiner’s artist in residence Anne Loyer of the Odysseus Project on the project Tamziq: Scattered and Connected. The partners are joined this year by the Center for Arabic Culture in a production directed by Marc S. Miller.

This world premiere by Iraqi playwright Amir Al-Azraki explores diverse Iraqi points of view about the events leading up to and following the U.S.-led invasion of their country in 2003. Al-Azraki dramatizes the problematic lives of Iraqis and the tricky situation before and after the war. In its exposition of truth as rooted in perspective, Waiting for Gilgamesh challenges the one-sidedness of our way of thinking. “The spectators are nowhere to find ready-made answers,” Al-Azraki has written, “but are left with a clash of voices, each cudgeling his views.”

During the first years of the Iraq War, Al-Azraki, born in Basra, taught English drama at the University of Basra and also worked as a fixer and translator for such international news outlets as The New York Times and The Dallas Morning News, later working for Al Mirbad TV and Radio run by the BBC World Service Trust. Among his plays are Stuck, Notorious Women, Lysistrata in Iraq, Home Woes, and Judgement Day.

Waiting for Gilgamesh is directed by Marc S. Miller and performed by James Bocock, Sally Nutt, Danielle Pointe-Tezana, Bari Robinson, Kria Sakeeny, and Kari Soustiel. Live music with Jacques Pardo of Atlas Soul (www.atlas-soul.com) with guest musicians. Additional production staff: Anne Loyer (production designer), Trip Venturella (stage manager), Jacques Pardo (composer, sound designer), Chris Bocchiaro (lighting designer), Mario Avila (puppets & masks), Hana Pegrimkova (puppets & masks), Julie Dauber (costume designer), Asmaa Najim Alhadidi (literary advisor) and Sam Lasman (dramaturg).