The Middle East is a hot and sensative topic in America, but San Francisco's Golden Thread Productions, a company dedicated specifically to Middle Eastern theatre, there's no time like the present to put on six diverse works in an evening entitled Love & Happiness was never so complicated..., running Sept. 27-Oct. 14 at the Yugen/Noh Space.
Separated into two plays per week, Love & Happiness includes two world premieres, Ghazi Rabihavi's Stoning and Torange Yeghiazarian's ABAGA. Stoning concerns a nurse and her patienr who are accused of adultery during the Iran-Iraq War as ABAGA recalls two forbidden love affairs — one in 1915's Istanbul and 1935's Jerusalem.
Also on the boards will be Tom Coash's Ukimwi, Yussef El Guindi's Arab-American adaptation of Chekhov's The Marriage Proposal and Three Stops and Myles Weber's Expatriates.
The three week festival features Bernadette Quattrone, Claudia Rosa, Deborah Davis-Price, Frank Toth, John Pennington, Mani, Mansoor Taid, Manuel Rojas, Mikhail Tank, Tariq Tanis, Ted Hursberg, Thomas Lynam, Maria Zamroud, Anahita Bakhtiari, Stephen Siegle, Termeh Yeghiazarian, Kathy Kennedy, Yasmine Orangi, Mia Pashcal, Said Ganji, Christopher J. Vantress, Jeff Gottlieb, Andrea Taylor and Vida Gharhremani.
Stoning and Ukimwi play Sept. 27-30. A Marriage Proposal and Three Stops follow Oct. 4-7. ABAGA and Expatriates play the final week, Oct. 11-14. Tickets are $15 or $30 for all three series. The Yugen/Noh Space is located at 2840 Mariposa Street. For reservations, call (510) 986-9194.
— By Christine Ehren
