Cast
(Alphabetical)
| Laith |
ANTONIO AMADEO* |
| Soldier/RSO |
TODD ALLEN DURKIN* |
| Intisar/Old Woman |
CECI FERNANDEZ |
| Dishdasha Man/Attendant |
SCOTT GENN* |
| Adnan |
JOHN MANZELLI* |
| Ambassador/Cursing Man/Old Man/Abu Abbas |
BILL SCHWARTZ* |
| Prescott |
RICKY WAUGH* |
* Member of Actors' Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States
Glossary
| JAISH AL-MAHDI or JAM |
The Mahdi Army, a hard-line Shia Militia led by Moqtada al-Sadr |
| ALAAS (pl. Alaasa) |
a new Iraqi term for lookouts/informers who work for militias & insurgents - literally "one who chews". |
| RSO |
Regional Security Officer, in charge of Security at the US Embassy |
| HIJAB |
Arabic for veil, covering the head of a woman |
| SADR CITY |
Large, overwhelmingly Shia are of Northeast Baghdad, named after the father of Moqtada al-Sadr a Shia cleric |
| DOS |
Department of State |
| DOD |
Department of Defense |
| HABIBI |
Arabic term of endearment |
| MASALAMA |
Arabic for Goodbye |
| DHS |
Department of Homeland Security |
| MOI |
Iraqi Ministry of Interior |
| FSO |
Foreign Service Officer |
| HARAM |
Arabic for Forbidden |
| ASSASSINS' GATE |
One of the principal points of entry into the Green Zone (American Zone in Central Baghdad, named after a US Army unit positioned there) |
| ANSAR AL-SUNNA |
Extreme Sunni insurgent group |
| ASKARI SHRINE |
Ancient Shia shrine in Samarra. It was blown up in Feb 2006 (probably by al Qaeda) escalating Iraq'a civil war between Shia and Sunni. |
| SADRISTS |
Followers of Moqtada al-Sadr, interchangeable with the Mahdi Army (JAM) |
| 1920 Revolution Brigade |
Sunni insurgent group |
Author's Note
In January 2007, I made my sixth trip to Iraq since the start of the war. My assignment from The New Yorker magazine was to write about the Iraqis who had gone to work for Americans - as interpreters, drivers, office managers, secretaries - and were being hunted down by insurgents and militias for the crime of being "spies." I found that the U.S. government was treating the peril in which these Iraqis found themselves as a bureaucratic nuisance.
The stories I heard during the hours of interviews with Iraqis in Baghdad, Kurdistan, Syria, Jordan and Sweden, where some of them had become refugees, created a narrative of the war's trajectory - from the initial hopes, through acts of courage and sacrifice amid growing danger, to a slow, reluctant disillusionment. Even after the article was published in the March 26, 2007 New Yorker, their voices stayed in my head. I wanted to do these individuals and the moral complexity of their situation more justice than even long-form journalism can effect. Their stories became the basis for Betrayed, my first play. I hope that it will bring American audiences into the twilit world of those Iraqis who risked the most and lost the most. ~ George Packer, January 1008
|
|
