Heather Raffo

Personal Information
Heather is the writer and performer of Nine Parts of Desire, a solo play about the lives of Iraqi women, which is in its eighth, sold-out month Off-Broadway at Manhattan Ensemble Theater. Ms. Raffo won a Special Commendation from the 2005 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize Committee for Nine Parts, and is a recipient of the 2005 Marian Seldes/Garson Kanin Fellowship from the Theater Hall of Fame. Nine Parts will travel to the Geffen Theatre in Los Angeles in September 2005, followed by a national tour which will include San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. The play will be published this autumn by Northwestern University Press, and will be anthologized in a publication featuring Arab-American women writers in early 2006. Heather first performed Nine Parts of Desire in August 2003 at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh. It later moved to the Bush Theatre in London’s Off-West End where critics hailed it as one of the five best plays in London in late 2003. Nine Parts was then developed and performed as a reading at The Public Theatre as part of its “New Work Now!” festival in Spring 2004. Ms. Raffo’s recent acting credits include: Sarah Woodruff in the world premiere of The French Lieutenant’s Woman at the Fulton Opera House. Off-Broadway, she appeared in Over The River and Through the Woods, as well as the Off Broadway/National Tour of Macbeth (Lady Macbeth), The Merry Wives of Windsor (Mistress Page) and The Rivals, all with The Acting Company. Regionally she’s appeared in Othello (dir. Jack O’Brien), Romeo and Juliet (dir. Daniel Sullivan), As You Like It (dir. Stephen Wadsworth), Macbeth (dir. Nicholas Martin), and Comedy of Errors (dir. John Rando), all with The Old Globe Theatre in San Diego.
 
Credits

Actor
Production Theatre Opened Credit
1 Munich Medea: Happy Family McGinn-Cazale Theatre 02/11/2024 Alice
2 Noura Playwrights Horizons 12/10/2018 Noura
3 The Profane Playwrights Horizons/ Peter Jay Sharp Theater 04/09/2017 Naja
4 Food and Fadwa New York Theatre Workshop 06/07/2012 Hayat Johnson
5 Palace of the End Playwrights Horizons/ Peter Jay Sharp Theater 06/23/2008 Nehrjas Al Saffarh
6 Nine Parts of Desire Manhattan Ensemble Theatre 10/09/2004 N/A
7 Over the River and Through the Woods John Houseman Theatre 10/05/1998 Caitlin O'Hare REPLACEMENT

Author
Production Theatre Opened Credit
1 Noura Playwrights Horizons 12/10/2018 Playwright
2 Nine Parts of Desire Manhattan Ensemble Theatre 10/09/2004 Playwright
Awards
Award Production Function
1 NOMINATED 2009 Drama League Award, Distinguished Performance Palace of the End Actor
2 WON 2005 Lucille Lortel Award, Outstanding Solo Show Nine Parts of Desire Actor
      Nine Parts of Desire Playwright
3 NOMINATED 2005 Outer Critics Circle Award, Outstanding Solo Performance Nine Parts of Desire Actor